Miraculous Fluff Month 2017!
by callmeakumatized
Summary: One-Shots and Drabbles for 2017 Fluff Month. The Love Square, DJWifi, Kwami magic, and lots of fun, flirty awkwardness. I hope you enjoy! :)
1. 4:00 am

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017

Aug 7 prompt: **4 A.M.**

* * *

 _"Plagg, claws out!"_

It wasn't the first time Adrien had dreamed he was Chat Noir. During his waking hours, he longed to be on the streets of Paris; the longing often converted into realistic dreams of nightly escapades, fiery Akuma attacks, and witticisms with his Lady Luck.

Though Adrien could tell his head was dreaming, his body seemed to be reacting strongly to the subconscious stimuli. With every step he could feel the ground beneath his boots, could feel his heart race as he leapt off tall precipices, and could even feel the pulsing through his legs when he landed too roughly. The adrenaline rush mixed euphorically with his dreaming state, making him feel even more daring. He felt a grin spread across his face. Dream-Chat loved jumping from the highest places he could reach. Tonight…it was the bell towers of Notre Dame.

Using both his stick and his cat-like attributes, Adrien clawed his way up the aged structure. His muscles ached but it only made him push harder. He wasn't sure why this dream was so much more physically demanding than any other, but he relished in it. It was a release he hadn't had in too long. Upon reaching the top of the dark building, Adrien looked over the city – _his_ city. It really was breathtaking. Not for the first time, Chat reminded himself how incredibly lucky he was that he was chosen to carry this burden of superheroism. As much as it was physically, mentally, and, thanks in part to Ladybug, _emotionally_ taxing, the benefits far outweighed the challenges.

With a sigh, Adrien leaned on a wall. _Ladybug_. While he always tried to keep his cool during the day, partly because he was the name and face of Gabriel Agreste, and partly because he didn't want to embarrass _himself_ , he never hid his feelings from Ladybug. He couldn't. It was as if all the forced emotional constipation in every other aspect of his life made it impossible for him to hold anything back once his black mask was on. He wasn't sorry for it; if anything, he was thankful. He only wished that he could act that way all the time.

Thinking about Ladybug and not being able to see her was putting a strange strain on Adrien's muscles. Usually she was here, in his Chat Noir dreams (one great perk of having those dreams), racing around Paris with him, a smile permanently on her face. Adrien shook out his arms and legs before stretching out his neck muscles, readying himself, trying to put _her_ out of his mind for a while. He took a few steps back, ready to leap. It must be about time for him to wake up; each dream ended this way. The jump would be completely exhilarating, but he would never experience the landing. His eyes always popped open right as he would touch down. Stick in hand, Adrien was about to leap, when he saw a red blur.

He froze, then smiled. _There_ she was! His Lady Lovely, his good luck charm.

"Hello, Chat," she smiled sweetly. "What are you doing here?"

"Hmmm?" was all Chat could respond. Ladybug didn't usually talk legitimate questions in his dreams. At least not ones he had to actually think about to answer. A questioning look passed through her eyes. She was saying something else now, but in the dream-state, Adrien was at a loss to what she was saying. And he really didn't care. In his dreams, he could ogle her all he wanted without her hitting him, or _flinging_ him off a large building or into the Seine. And in this dream, her form wasn't as fuzzy, like a high-def option had been switched on. Adrien could feel his face morph into something that would have looked goofy. He put a hand on his heart and leaned against a wall again, watching Ladybug talk to and smile at him.

 _She's so pretty_.

And then suddenly, she was leaving.

Adrien didn't hesitate. He went after her.

They were sliding down the side of Notre Dame, then racing across rooftops. Adrien never tried to catch his lady; he liked to just watch her. They kept this leisurely pace, Adrien just behind Ladybug's smiling face. She seemed to be pausing to wait for him at times, and other times seemed to be giggling while he tried to keep up. The stupid smile was still on his face – he could feel it – but the excitement of making sure Ladybug stayed in his sight was enough to keep him focused on moving forward. His heart raced faster as Ladybug picked up speed on one long stretch of rooftop before leaping into a high arc. She turned her head mid-air as if to make sure he was still following. Adrien thought that it was a funny supposition. Where else would he go than with his lady?

He wasn't paying attention as closely as he should have to the landing. He was coming in too hot, and didn't have time to cushion his landing. Good think Ladybug was there! Fortunately for Adrien, she was a soft landing spot. Unfortunately for her, she hadn't seen him coming. They went sprawling when he smacked into her, rolling around on the small balcony, knocking over pots of flowers, and landing in a lump on a pink lounging chair. With a crack, the chair sounded like it might have broken; before Adrien or Ladybug could extricate themselves from each other, the chair folded over them. They both yelped, and then just laid there for a moment. Adrien heard Ladybug take in a deep breath and let it out with a huff.

"Sorry, M'lady," Adrien purred, smiling again as his whole body seemed to warm up from their closeness. He was really enjoying this new high-def option of dreaming. "I just can't seem to keep my footing when I'm around you. I just keep tripping over myself. I must be…falling for you. Over, and over and over again."

Ladybug groaned but they were in such a jumbled heap, she couldn't put a hand over her face like Adrien knew she would. The thought made him laugh. And when Adrien thought of what they must look like now, trapped as they were, he kept laughing. When Ladybug joined in his laughter, and he could feel her entwined frame shaking with his own, his laughter grew until tears were rolling down his cheeks. After a few minutes though, Ladybug started to shift around.

"Come on, Kitty," she whispered. "We need to get out of this mess and get you back to bed."

 _I am in bed_ , was Adrien's first thought, and he was genuinely confused why Ladybug would say something like that. However, he conceded, starting to actually feel a little uncomfortable himself despite the elation of actually _touching_ Ladybug. The position he was in was putting a serious cramp in his leg.

It took a few minutes, but when the super duo was finally freed, Adrien, realizing where they were, was happier than ever that this was a dream. They were at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, and they had smashed nearly every pot on Marinette's balcony, not to mention the busted-up chair. Adrien cringed inwardly. He looked to Ladybug, but she had disappeared. The trap door to Marinette's room was open. As Adrien made his way over to the door, Ladybug popped her head out, then the rest of her. She was laden with fluffy blankets and soft pillows and was pulling more out from the room below, making a giant pile of softness next to her. Would Marinette approve of this? Adrien shook his head, and the sleepiness that was still lingering at the edges of his vision served as a sound reminder of his reality – or, non-reality. _This is still a dream_ , he thought again. _A weird, fun, crazy dream_.

"C'mon, Chaton!" Ladybug called to him quietly. "Beddy-bye time." When Adrien looked over, all he could do was stare. Ladybug had made him a bed of blankets and pillows (complete with a stripey _cat_ pillow) right there in the middle of the balcony. She sat next to it, patting the fluffy blankets, smiling warmly at him. A yawn escaped from him and a dazed Adrien walked obediently to the spot Ladybug had indicated, closing his eyes immediately. He felt Plagg and his alter-ego leave his body as Ladybug pulled a blanket up and over him. Although his heavy eyelids drooped, they batted open wide for a moment when he thought he heard a shrill "EEP!" before the blanket was tucked somewhat harshly around him, including his face.

"Ladybug…" he mumbled through the covers. "I can't breathe."

"S-s-sorry A-a-CHAT. I MEAN CHAT. S-sorry, _Chat_."

Ladybug pulled the blanket off his face gingerly. Adrien smiled up at her before giving in to sleep. _Can you sleep while dreaming?_ He didn't know. He didn't care. He felt a hand on his hair before he couldn't pay attention to anything anymore.

* * *

Ten minutes later, fluffy cocoon-wrapped Adrien carried bridal-style in her arms, Marinette, with her Ladybug suit's help, carried the sleepy boy back to the Agreste mansion.

 _It's no big deal_ , she told herself for the hundredth time on the short trip. _I'm just carrying my crush who happens to be my super crime-fighting partner with cat ears and punny sense of humor to his home after he smashed all my plants on my balcony and tried to jump off of Notre Dame. No big deal! Who said this was a big deal!?_

For most of the trip, Marinette was able to carry Adrien without having to use her yo-yo to get to where they needed to go, hoping it would help keep him asleep. But for the last leg of the trip, it was going to take some finesse. She stopped on the building across from Adrien's bedroom windows. Marinette delicately set the bundle down.

 _Oh my GOODNESS HE IS SO CUTE._ Marinette sighed and thought again how grateful she was to have a very attentive Kwami not looking after her, but also this boy she loved with sunshine hair.

Tikki had woken up Marinette when she felt something amiss. She could tell Chat Noir's Kwami (who was introduced to her later as Plagg) had been trying to contact her _somehow_. So Tikki, sensing an emergency, woke Marinette immediately. They finally found Chat, who was perched precariously at Notre Dame, looking like he was ready to jump. It took everything inside of Marinette not to scream out to him. Instead she had rushed to his side and realized…he was sleepwalking. She had tried to hold something of a conversation with him but he was completely gone. So Marinette did the only thing she could think to do…take the stray kitty hope and keep him safe.

Until he had changed into the smokin' hot model boy she had been dreaming about just an hour before then. Marinette knew then she needed to take him home. If not for her sake – at the risk of him freaking out when he woke up – for _his_ sake, so his _father_ didn't freak out on _him_.

Marinette stared at the mansion and swung her yo-yo at a point above the open window. Then she picked up cocoon-boy and, trying her hardest to distribute his weight well enough to make the jump (and hopefully not wake him up), she swung.

Well, they almost made it. They at least made it to the window _next_ to the open one.

With a sound _smack_ , the pair of teens crashed into each other for the second time that night. Adrien just snorted in his sleep, but Marinette winced at the new pain in her arm and head. With some more care than the task now perhaps warranted, Marinette slowly made her way the last ten inches to the open window and swung herself and Adrien inside. She sighed. The hard part was over.

With one last quiet grunt, Marinette hefted the sleeping boy into her arms one last time. She carried him silently to his bed and laid him there, pulling the blankets around him and tucking him in again. With the care and worry and _every_ mask gone from his face, Adrien truly looked angelic. Soft features, golden hair…. She sighed, rather audibly, and Adrien's eyes flew open. Marinette's eyes widened and she stood stock still. She had crouched by his bed to get a better look at his lax features and only now realized she should have made a break for it when she still could.

 _Of course. He doesn't wake up the whole trip here, doesn't wake up when he smacks into the window, but catches me when I'm staring at him_. A smile flicked to her face. _How very Chat-like of him_.

"Ladybug?" he asked, evidence of complete shock radiating over his features. He shot up, propping himself on an elbow to look at Ladybug's crouched frame better. His eyes darted over her as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Which, really, was completely understandable.

Crap. He was legit awake how. Marinette debated a million different options of what to do next in a matter of seconds. Then she smiled.

"Goodnight Chaton," she whispered, and her smile grew when Adrien's eyes grew to saucer-size. Marinette put a hand on his cheek and debated one more option, biting her lip. Then, deciding that she had nothing left to lose, really, she leaned up to his face and kissed his forehead. If she thought Adrien couldn't look more shocked, she was utterly mistaken. She actually snorted a laugh out at the look on his face and was glad it was dark – she hoped he couldn't see how much she was blushing. As she stood to leave, the thought crossed her mind that she might need to give him a bit more explanation of _why_ she was there before she left, even though she wasn't sure if his brain was functioning at the moment.

"Next time you go sleepwalking, Chaton," she whispered over her shoulder. "Make sure you lock the window first."

And then she was gone.

When Marinette got home, she sighed at the state of her balcony before gathering up the pillows and extra blankets and dropping into her trap door. Her red spotted suit zapped away, revealing pink pajamas with tiny black cats on them. Tikki floated up next to her head.

"So…" started the red, grinning Kwami.

Marinette froze. All brain function suddenly stopped and a wave of nausea washed over her. It was as if she had been hit by a giant truck with the words REALITY CHECK stamped on the side. Then the heat started to rise and she knew she must be red from head to toe, the physical demonstration of embarrassment embracing even inch of her skin, matching the equally mortifying disturbance in her mental capacities. Before Tikki could get out another word, comforting or no, Marinette went to pull her big blanket over her head and….

The blanket was gone.

Her blanket was still wrapped around Adrien Agreste. At his house. She groaned loudly.

It was 4:00 AM in Paris, and two teenagers laid in their beds, screaming into their pillows.  
_

 _Fin!_


	2. New

Miraculous Fluff Month – August 8th

Prompt: New

Adrien noticed an abrupt change in Marinette when he came to school that day. She walked right up to him. She talked to him without stuttering. She touched his arm and laughed when he said a joke. The rest of the week was the same way, but with a few differences each day. The next day she winked at him. The day after, she touched his arm again, but looked right up at him when she did it. On the last day of school before the weekend, she squeezed his hand briefly when he walked by to get into his car to go home. The touch jolted him and he watched as, over her shoulder, she blinked twice, slowly. When he got into his car, he noticed she had slipped a piece of paper into his hand. On the paper were two words: _Kitty Kisses_. He pulled out his phone and typed the phrase into Google…and heat raced up from his neck to his cheeks and to the very tips of his ears. He was…blushing. A _lot_.

 _This is new_.

"What, no pick-up lines today, Chat?" Ladybug was grinning at a very distracted Chat. They had fought the villain, she had purified the Akuma, and Paris was set right again. And Chat had been unfocused the entire time. Shaking his head, he languidly stalked up to Ladybug. Surprisingly, she didn't back down; instead she took a step forward, looking up into him. _Challenge accepted_ , he thought to himself.

"With a body like this, M'lady," he hummed quietly to her. "Who needs a pick-up line?" Chat had fully expected her to hit him or push him away, or, at the very least, roll her eyes. Her mouth formed a small "o" before she smirked.

"You did bring the big guns today," she whispered back at him, making an obvious show of checking him out. She reached out when her eyes crossed his arms, giving his biceps a squeeze. "Oh! And they're fully loaded!" her earrings beeped then and she hurried away, giggling, a smile still plastered on her face. Meanwhile, Chat could only stare blankly, fully at a loss for words.

 _This is new._

A crash sounded outside the school. Adrien rushed out the doors only to see an Akuma victim wreaking havoc. Ladybug was already there. He could only gape for a moment at her deft movements and acrobatics. Without warning, she rounded on him, locking eyes with him. He was caught staring, but he still couldn't move…and he continued to only be able to watch as she wrapped the victim in her yo-yo and flung him away, then hurried up to Adrien. Without even a pause, she placed a soft kiss on his cheek before whispering into his ear.

"Hurry up, _mon minou_. Paris and I need you. "

Adrien could only continue to stare after the red-suited superheroine as realization sunk in: she knew who he was. He should be elated. But his excitement couldn't reach the 110% it normally seemed to stay at while in her presence; instead, a pair of "bluebell" eyes flashed into his mind for the hundredth time that week, though they weren't wrapped in red. He was thinking of Marinette while being kissed on the cheek by Ladybug.

 _This is new_.

Chat watched as Marinette popped open her trapdoor and sauntered out onto her balcony. She walked to the railing and, after a deep breath, flicked her eyes unexpectedly up to Chat, who was perched on a rooftop across the road. He started, shocked at the sudden feeling of her eyes on him. He had come to the bakery because he felt drawn there, pulled there by her presence; the look on her face only enhances the sensation. Before he realized what he was doing, he landed on the balcony right next to her, leaning backward on the railing. At being so close to his princess, his heart started beating wildly. He can't say anything, but she doesn't seem to want to talk. She moves closer to him, a hand reaching up and touching the golden hair behind his real ears. Another hand touches his arm, and she looks right into his. The expression on her face was readable, if not somewhat confusing: she seemed to be asking for permission. Chat wouldn't have chuckled at the ridiculous of the notion, but the intensity in her gaze stopped him before he even started. Instead, he pulled her closer, deciding that this might be a bad idea before realizing he might not really care. She spoke into his temporary pause.

"Hurry up, _mon minou_ ," she spoke breathily. "I really do need you."

With only a moment of shocked silence as pieces were fitting together in his head, Chat stared at His Lady's eyes. Tears were welled up there despite the smile, and he felt his own eyes prick with emotion. And then he couldn't wait any longer before pulling her lips to his. Fire erupted into his chest and he couldn't stop the smile forming against her lips. He felt the smile returned and he pulled her closer as an overwhelming feeling enveloped him completely: _belonging_.

 _This is new._

Adrien was locked in another tear-streaked kiss. He broke apart and opened his eyes, staring into the blue sky that was his new wife's eyes. He didn't want to let her go, didn't want to part from her from this moment on; he grabbed her hand, determined to never let her go. She squeezed back just as hard, never loosening her grip. The feeling she had for him was mutual. They worked in tandem. They were a team. They joyed in loving all parts of each other, for better or worse. It was a feeling now that was _beyond_ belonging, beyond being loved in a general sense; they were sealed to each other. She helped heal his broken pieces and he helped her build a stronger foundation. They were whole _together_. She loved him _completely_ , wanted to be with _him_. The reality of finally securing this woman for his own, of someone wanting him so much that they would agree to want to see him every day for the rest of forever was such unknown territory. She _loved_ him.

It was new.

And he loved her for it.

 _Fin!_


	3. It's You

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017

Prompt: It's You

Marinette's feet skidded across the floor as she rounded the corner. Her earrings gave her a you-have-one-minute-left-find-somewhere-to-transform beep and she picked up the pace. She was heading to her favorite haunt in the school; which, given that it was a supply closet, would seem strange, if she wasn't the equivalent to Superman needing to turn back into Clark Kent. Upon reaching the door, she swung open the door and flung herself into the cramped room.

She had no idea that the closet was already occupied.

Adrien flew back against the wall of cleaning supplies and brooms when the door had swung open, and it seemed only a strange case of _luck_ on his part that the spotted heroine – who nearly gave him a _heart attack_ when she blasted through the door– didn't see or hear him. A sigh emitted from Ladybug before she giggled slightly. When the lock sounded Adrien felt his breath catch in his throat. Ladybug had just locked them in a closet. Together.

A blinding pink light temporarily flashed and Adrien started to panic slightly. Ladybug had just locked them in a closet. Together. And changed into her civilian self.

"I think we're safe in here," she spoke in a vehement whisper.

 _Uh…say what now_?

"I don't know where the light is…. We might be here for quite a while though, so we might as well get comfortable."

Then Ladybug yelped.

And Adrien was 10000% sure it was because, in his attempt to push himself flatter against the back wall when he heard her words, his foot had found a loose roll of paper towels and he had tripped. The resulting crash was both incriminating and painful.

"Who's there!?" Ladybug's voice had been, to Adrien, always a source of delight, whether on or off the battlefield. However, despite the somewhat _cute_ way he had shrilled her words into a new octave, the intonation was completely _frightening_.

" _Who's there!?_ " she hissed again. At the risk of bodily injury, Adrien answered. His answer, though, was hurried, and, well, not well thought through. At all.

"I-It's just m-me, L-Lady-"

" _Chat!?_ "

"Uh…." Well, technically speaking, she wasn't wrong. But, Adrien quickly realized, she probably shouldn't know that it was _Chat_ in here, but just simple _Adrien_. He started to defend his "civilian" self, but in Ladybug's presence, he started to trip over his thoughts.

"No, it's, uh, not Chat Noir. _I'm_ not C-Chat Noir."

Crap. It didn't even sound convincing to _him_.

A moment of silence passed.

" _Oh my gosh, Chat, what are you doing here!?_ "

Ah, well, he tried.

Marinette started to panic slightly.

 _Ooooooh boy. What are we going to do now!?_ she wondered, pulling on her pigtails in consternation.

The school bell rang suddenly and, within moments, Marinette heard footfalls and shuffling mixed with muffled conversations on the other side of the door. Great. Perfect.

A voice sounded out louder than the others:

"Come on, Nino! I know I saw her run over here, and I didn't see her leave! I'm _sure_ she was just about to transform…we have to find her! Start looking at everyone's faces."

Marinette groaned. _Alya_.

"I'm pretty sure I came in here for the same reason you did."

Ladybug flicked her eyes toward the sound of Chat's voice when he spoke, but she couldn't see anything in the darkness. She groaned again, the sound coming out more like a growl.

Adrien heard Ladybug trying to pace in the cramped quarters. The shadows of her feet hobbled back and forth, accented from the light pouring in under the door.

"Al _right_ , M'Lady," Adrien said finally, the nervous energy from Ladybug starting to settle under his skin. He pulled himself from his somehow comfortable position in a pile of fallen _stuff_ to stand and stumble his way over toward the light that marked the position of the door. He had a hand on the doorknob and one on the lock as he tried to bid Ladybug a hasty goodbye. With a click, he made to leave. "I don't know about you, but I have some engagements to keep, so, uh, I'm going to make like a banana and split. If you could just excuse me –"

"Yeah, haha, _no-I-don't-think-so_."

Ladybug's hands were on his immediately. It would have been nice, if she wasn't trying to pry his hands off the doorknob.

"We can't stay in here forever."

"Uh, yeah, I actually plan to be here pretty much for the next part of forever." She blew out an exasperated sigh. "At least until the hallway clears."

"You really want to stay here...in the dark…with _me_ … _aloooone_?"

The picture of Chat wriggling his eyebrows forced its way into Marinette's mind against her will. She had seen the sight so often, it was easy for her to recall.

 _Well, she thinks it's Chat anyway…might as well act the part, right?_ The logic sounded good to Adrien.

Adrien would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying this just a _bit_. Or maybe a lot.

With quick movements he shifted his body weight from trying to push the door open to positioning himself directly in front of the doorknob and lock, pushing Ladybug out of the way.

"Uh, no, no, I can see where you're going with this –" Ladybug started, but Adrien cut her off.

"I'm pretty sure you can't _see_ anything. But if I could, I'd take a picture of you."

"Uh…."

"You know, so then I could show you the prettiest girl in the world."

"UUUGGGGHHHH!"

"Hey, Lady,"

"STTAAWWWWPP-"

"I don't want to sound _cheese-y_ -"

"LALALA I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"

Ladybug was shouting, but Adrien, completely engulfed in the task of making her as incensed as possible, only shouted louder. There was a laugh in his voice now; the sheer ridiculous of this situation was hitting him, and he couldn't mask the mirth of not only being able to tease his Lady Luck without the threat of an Akuma, but the fact that Ladybug was _here_ , in _his_ school, _de_ -transformed, made his insides insanely _giddy_.

"-BUT I THINK YOU'RE _GRATE_!"

That was it. That was her breaking point. Marinette had had enough of this – of _all_ this – to deal with hearing one more _blasted pun_. With a force that belied her small, non-Ladybug form, Marinette grabbed Chat around the waist and was about to hurl him to the back of the closet where he came from –

"Yeah, I heard something from in here," a voice on the other side of the door said.

And that was all the warning they had before the door flew open.

"Uh…."

"MARINETTE!"

 _Marinette?_ Adrien blinked.

Marinette stood there, frozen in place, still holding Chat around the middle.

" _Marinette Dupain-Cheng_ ," Alya shouted again. " _Put. Adrien. Down. Now._ "

 _ADRIEN!?_ Marinette hastily dropped Chat. (Totally without meaning to, really.)

They looked at each other in stunned disbelief before speaking together:

"It's _you!?_ "

Marinette collapsed.

Adrien stared.

Nino blinked (he had no idea what was going on).

Alya only facepalmed.

 _Fin!_

(( Ok, really, I don't know if I'm even able to write "fluff", haha. But thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this! (: ))


	4. Secret Sleepover

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 10

Prompt: Secret Sleepover

(( This is aged up. They are married, and married couples _kiss!_ Readers be aware. Everything is completely appropriate, I promise. (: ))

qpqpqpqpqp

The cake was cut. The bouquet was tossed. The honeymoon was over. Mr. and Mrs. Agreste were now walking into the door of their first apartment together, smiling at each other in the way that only newlyweds do.

Marinette stood at the sink washing the dishes while Adrien was in turn rinsing, drying, and putting them away, stealing surprise kisses all over Marinette with every dish. When they were done, he wrapped her up into his arms and just held her.

And, of course, that's when there was an earth-shaking crash in the darkening lights over Paris.

The two spouses stared at each other for a long moment before rushing to turn on the news station on their TV. There was an Akuma. The tension that entered the room was both unreadable but completely familiar. Marinette slipped a sideways glance at Adrien, guilt tugging at her heart. Adrien looked pointedly at the TV ahead before faking a yawn.

"Well…Ladybug and Chat Noir will take care of it, right?" he said. "So I think I'm just going to take a shower and, uh, head to bed. Are you alright?"

"Mmhm," was all Marinette could respond with. Was it really going to be this easy? "I, uh, I'm just going to chill out here f-for a bit." She cleared her throat. "Maybe I'll go out on the balcony later?" It was a statement, but it came out like a question, as if Marinette was silently asking if this was going to work as a viable excuse.

Adrien sighed in relief. Marinette often wanted to be alone at odd moments of the day. He'd be able to sneak out without a problem.

The rather large window for an apartment bathroom had been a must for the couple. "To let in a lot of light to the small space," they had both said.

An apartment with a balcony on the highest floor had also been a must. "So they didn't have any upstairs neighbors," they had agreed.

Marinette stopped Adrien with a hand on his wrist on his way down the hall. When he turned, she pulled him into her, kissing him so thoroughly he stood stunned for a moment trying to just catch his breath.

Marinettte giggled. "Go take your shower."

"I – er – shower, right. Mmhm."

Did he really have to go fight an Akuma _now_?

qpqpqpqpqp

The battle didn't last long, but it was especially tiring.

Adrien slunk back into the bathroom window, turning off the shower that he never took, and walked straight back into bed with a sound _flumpf_. When he opened his eyes to look at Marinette, the eyes he had loved for so long were wide open in shock.

" _What are you doing here!?_ "

Huh? "Uh…sleeping?"

" _ADRIEN!?_ "

Adrien blinked. "….Yes?"

The shocked expression instantly released into a fit of belly-laughter that Adrien had no idea what to do about.

"Oh my _kitty whiskers_ , Adrien! Bahaha you really let the _CHAT_ out of the bag!"

His wife was broken, and he didn't know what to do about it.

"Adrien, I have a confession to make," Marinette shot up into a sitting position over Adrien. She bent low to whisper in his ear. Adrien was completely and utterly confused, but he could handle crazy if it meant Marinette would still whisper "sweet nothings" to him.

"I've been having secret sleepovers…with Paris's favorite Super Kitty."

What.

Adrien blinked for a moment before looking down at himself…still suited up as Chat Noir.

Oops.

Marinette sat back again, the giggles returning. Adrien couldn't tell why she thought this was so hilarious. He didn't know what to do, where to go from here. He put a still-clawed hand over his eyes. Could she know about Kwamis? Would she try to stop him from rushing into the battles? And why the heck did she find this so _hilarious!?_

He released an exasperated sigh. Next to him, Marinette whispered something. Was that a flash of light? There was shifting and he felt Marinette leaning over him again, still shaking with laughter.

"Adrien," she tried to whisper through giggles. He tried to push her away, then covered his face with both hands. This only made her fall into another fit of laugter.

"Adrien Agreste, open your eyes and look at me!"

Well, he was going to have to face this at some point. Lowering his hands, he stared straight up…

…into Ladybug's face.

All he could do was blink up at her.

Suddenly the laughter made sense.

"Are you serious?"

"Nah…I mean, I _am_ a designer, so I happen to have this really great cosplay costume of Ladyb-"

Marinette was cut off when Adrien grabbed her around the middle and hugged her tight against him.

"Does this mean I get to wear my LadyNoir shirt again?" he spoke softly into her hair.

"Oh, I wish you would."

And then he decided it was time to stifle her laughter.

Although he had had his suspicions when he was a fresh Chat Noir, he really had no idea how much he would enjoy kissing the lips off of Lady Luck herself.

 _Fin!_

 **BONUS**

The next morning, Adrien was taking a real shower while Marinette did her hair in the mirror. Tikki and Plagg were zooming around the rooms of the apartment, freed from the inhibitions of secrecy.

"Do you realize how much money we're going to save by you not having to pretend to take a ridiculously long shower every few days?" Marinette called over to Adrien.

"Ha, it just means I get to actually _take_ ridiculously long showers every few days."

"Aren't cats supposed to hate water?"

"Maybe normal, mangy alley cats. What you have here is a _paws_ -itively out-the-ordinary _Tomcat_."

"You don't have to say out-of-the-ordinary. You can just say _weird_."

She laughed when two scowling eyes peeked out at her from behind the shower curtain before ducking back again. Without any warning, Marinette gasped when she felt water sprayed all over her back.

"Oh, sorry, _dear_ ," cooed Adrien, an impish glint dancing in his eyes. "I saw a _bug_ in the mirror. I didn't realize it was _you_."

The scene that followed was how any typical, mature, married couple would act: Marinette grabbed her husband into a headlock and rubbed her fist through his hair, trying to get him to say "uncle", before Adrien pulled her into the shower. She squealed, letting go of his head, and Adrien grabbed a towel before bolting out of the bathroom and down the hall as fast as he could, a boyish grin on his face.

It was, in essence, marital bliss between two superheroes.


	5. PlushieStuffed Animals

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 11

Prompt: Plushies/Stuffed Animals

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 **Friday**

" _GALL,_ Marinette!" Nino moaned as "Player 2 Wins!" flashed on the computer screen. The other 3 teens howled with laughter at his misery. Marinette only added to the chagrined DJ by indulging in a _horrible_ victory dance.

"Well, honestly Nino," spoke Adrien between guffaws. "Did you really think Marinette would be magically worse by switching to Player 2?"

Nino slugged the model in the arm.

"It's not my fault I'm _UNBEATABLE!_ " Marinette continued doing her victory dance. Even Nino joined in the laughter this time; the dance was completely _ridiculous_.

"Hey, what's that?" Adrien shot up suddenly from his seat on the floor, walking in quick strides to Marinette's desk. Marinette sobered immediately, following his steps with a sudden nervousness. She hoped beyond hope she hadn't missed hiding one of the many pictures of a modeling Adrien. Her fears were done away, though, when Adrien walked up to where a small pile of sewing things held evidence of an unfinished project. Marinette sighed quietly. Alya, glancing toward Marinette at the sound, sniggered.

"Is this…" began Adrien, picking up what looked like a miniature doll. "Is this Chat Noir?"

When Adrien turned around, Alya and Nino strode over to him while Marinette, still recovering from the sudden relief that some of her secrets were still _hers_ (and, you know, Alya's), only crossed her arms. She was also still coming off the high of winning Mecha Strike for the 8th time in a row; she felt more confident than she had ever been in front of Adrien before, and she was actually proud of the little project he now held admiringly in his fingers.

Adrien was shocked. He had seen Marinette's larger dolls of Ladybug, Chat Noir, and a few choice villains (he tried to ignore the fact that she had an Evilistrator, though he couldn't say _why_ this particularly bothered him), but this, this was _cute_. It was a tiny Chat Noir doll, only a few inches tall, and an exact replica of her larger model but cut in a star shape instead of sewn with loose limbs. To top it off, a clip, like a keychain, was sewn to the top of his head. The tiny cat ears and tail nearly did Adrien in. He was sure his own eyes had stars in them. Alya and Nino gushed openly over the little doll, but Adrien absolutely _fawned_ over it.

" _Marinette!_ This is so _awesome_. I can't believe you _made_ this! Well, I _can_ believe it, since you're so _amazing_ , but this is seriously the coolest thing I have ever seen! Look at his little _bell_!"

Adrien didn't notice the giant red stick of rhubarb that was Marinette.

Instead, he traced his fingers over the doll's features once more (while Alya gave Marinette a _very_ knowing look) before Alya and Nino pried it from his nearly unrelenting grasp. Pouting momentarily, he glanced up at Marinette, and then did a double-take. Suddenly, he felt a little guilty. Poor, shy Marinette…he'd freaked her out again. But an idea had suddenly popped into his head, and he was pulsing with excitement to hear the answer from Marinette to the question he was dying to ask. Like Moses parting the Red Sea, Adrien – unintentionally dramatic in his movements – pushed past Alya and Nino (who snickered amusedly) and straight to Marinette. He grabbed her hands in his and looked straight into her (very red) face.

Marinette internally "EEEEEEEEP"-ed.

"Marinette, could you…w-would you…"

 _…yyYYYESSS, ADRIEN!?_

"Would you make a tiny Ladybug plushie keychain for me?" he hurried out eagerly. "I'd get you the material, or the fabric, or whatever you need –"

Marinette had stopped listening.

It's hard to listen when steam from your overheated body is shooting out your ears.

Alya and Nino laughed openly.

 **Saturday**

A tap on the window at the balcony told her she had a late-night visitor.

"Maman!" called Marinette as she got up from her place at her desk to walk up to the trap door. "Chat is here!"

"Ok, sweetie!" came her mother's voice. "Just make sure you leave your door open!"

"Yes, Maman!" Marinette rolled her eyes, though a smile appeared on her face.

Marinette had reached the trap door leading to the balcony and unlocked it with a click. Chat's shaggy blond-haired head shot into the open space above her, his usual boyish grin on his face. With a loud _thump!_ he flipped onto the loft and then down into her room. It was his usual entrance, and the sound triggered soft shouts from the main floor of the house.

"Hi, Chat honey!" came Sabine's voice, followed by Tom's booming greeting of, "Hello, cat-boy!"

"Hullo, Mr. Dupain, Mrs. Cheng!"

Chat was already racing downstairs. Marinette shook her head fondly as she closed the trap door to the balcony and headed back to her desk. Some days she seriously wondered if her parents loved her or Chat Noir more. When Chat returned a minute later with his usual tray of every sweet her parents could find for him, Marinette didn't even have to gesture for him to grab a seat; he plopped down on the chaise and spread out, as if he did it all the time. Which, really, he _did_.

"You're right on time, as usual, Chat," Marinette called from across the pink room. The abrupt lack of chewing told her Chat was all ears. "I was just finishing my present for you."

"My…what?" was all Chat could reply.

"Your present," Marinette replied nonchalantly, knowing it would drive him nuts. Although he was trying to be sneaky, Marinette, with a trained ear to his antics, could hear him creeping across her floor, stalking toward her. She only giggled.

"I can _hear_ you, Chat."

Her giggles turned into real laughter when a pair of human-esque, green cat eyes popped over her desk. Chat's ears were straight up in wander. It was adorable, if Marinette allowed herself to admit. She tried to hide the slight blush she felt creeping into her cheeks. Instead, she held up the dangling keychain, laughing again as Chat's eyes darted back and forth as it wiggled in the air. With a sudden clutching movement, Chat snatched the keychain out of the air.

"You made this…for me?" he asked, his small voice etched in questioning.

The wonderment confused Marinette a little. She didn't think he didn't approve of it or anything, but the way his tone was uncharacteristically soft stung Marinette's conscience in a strange way. Before she could reply in the affirmative, however, Chat had dropped to his knees at Marinette's side and wrapped her into a solid, strong embrace. He buried his face in her shoulder.

"Thank you, Marinette."

Marinette tried to not let the sudden tears leak out as she hugged her stray kitty back, a warm feeling budding in her chest.

 **Monday**

The Chat Noir keychain had been amazing the first time Adrien had seen it, but when Marinette had presented it to him as Chat Noir himself the next night, the exquisite detail that she had added to it belied any type of indifference or apathy she had shown in her emotions to him at previous times. The stirring he felt in his heart to his sweet, loving classmate was budding from friendship to real companionship, and Adrien almost ached to have the feeling repeated every day with her at school. He had never felt this from anyone except his mother before (and maybe – _maybe_ – his father on rare occasions); he wasn't even sure what to call it, having been denied it for so long…but it certainly felt like something that strongly resembled _love_. Even if it was platonic, Adrien swelled at the knowledge that Marinette surely held some type of place in her heart for her kitty friend, and maybe, just maybe, even for his "civilian" self as well.

When Monday came, it took Adrien all he had in him not to attach his new Chat Noir keychain to his bookbag. He knew she would recognize the one-of-a-kind doll _she_ had created in a heartbeat, but Adrien almost _wanted_ her to find out. However strong the temptation was, though, Adrien had decided against it, and instead attached the good-luck charm bracelet Marinette had given him before to his bag. He hoped that, just by looking at it, Marinette would know how he was thinking of her, hoping that, though he couldn't fully express his thanks to his Princess, she would recognize, at least, his _appreciation_ _of_ her.

And now he waited outside the school, trying to _school_ his own feelings, which were…what?

Somehow Adrien couldn't convince himself that, while _Marinette's_ love toward him – or _Chat_ – might be completely innocent, friendly even, what _he_ was feeling might not be something a little…more. To what extent, he couldn't tell. But that he was _excited_ to see her again, _anxious_ too, and that sweat was not only building up on his forehead but also making his palms a little sweaty, told him he was already in pretty deep.

And when Marinette came into view, a small box with a ribbon in her hand, eyes trying to fix on him despite her own nervousness, Adrien knew he had crashed.

And when she smiled….

He had crashed…and burst into flames.

 **That Next Friday**

Adrien jumped slightly when he felt a small hand slip into his own. As his eyes drifted down, he found a grinning Marinette. He shook his head and smiled before lowering his face down to hers. He lightly kissed her cheek, enjoying the flushed warmth that always appeared when he was close to her, then whispered into her ear.

"How are you so good at sneaking up on me, My Lady?"

Marinette only giggled, moving just a little closer to him. "Lots and _lots_ of practice, Chaton."

Adrien lifted his head back enough to look into her eyes, the warm smiles they shared with each other melting even more of the darkness that had so long burdened his careworn heart. As the warning bell rang, Marinette laughed as Adrien hurriedly tugged her into the school, the mini Ladybug and Chat Noir keychains on his bookbag jostling his good-luck charm bracelet with every step.

 _And to think_ , mused Tikki from the inside of a little pink bag. _All this from a little Chat Noir plushie_.

 _Fin!_


	6. Mon Coeur (My Heart)

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 12

Prompt: _Mon Coeur_ (My Heart)

This story is inspired by and written for pinksakura271. Thank you for the ideas, the input, the reviews, and the suggestions! :)

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Chat Noir slunk around the alleyways and rooftops of Paris. He was in a particularly dismal mood; there had been another Akuma attack that day, and, while he _hated_ seeing an innocent victim taken over, he hated even more seeing his Lady getting hurt. So, before it happened a second time, Chat had pushed her out of the way. While Chat congratulated himself for the save, Ladybug had only "thanked" him with a tongue-lashing. It didn't really matter, since he would continue to take the hits for her anyway, but it was so utterly disheartening to not only suffer from unrequited love from Ladybug, but to feel unappreciated for what he did do. Chat huffed again as the thoughts circled around and around his mind. His emotions floated in his throat in a mixture of disappointment in Ladybug's lack of recognition for him and disappointment for Ladybug's lack of _interest_ in him.

A miserable scowl was becoming a permanent fixture on Chat's face tonight.

His ears twitched suddenly, music playing somewhere in the not far distance cutting through the silence of the Parisian night. Chat took off toward the sound. What he suspected he couldn't say, but what he found was another dismal-looking teenage face. Marinette was standing at the railing of her balcony, eating through a huge plate of cookies.

Oh, Marinette. Marinette, though she loved to joke around with him, always made him feel _better_ by the end of his visits. If ever he needed even a semblance of a friend, despite her teasing apathy, now was the time. Without any more hesitation, he lighted down onto her balcony with just a loud enough thump to the ground to scare Marinette, but not loud enough for the slightly clumsy girl to lose her grip on her plate of cookies.

" _Geez_!" whispered the bluenette harshly. "Could you try any harder to scare me, Chat?"

The thought made him chuckle, notwithstanding his slightly dark mood. He _knew_ Marinette would make him feel better.

"I certainly could, Prrrrincess." He made a show of rolling the "r" sounds and put a lazy hand on his hip. "Would you like me to now?"

Marinette rolled her eyes, shaking her head, though he saw the edges of her lips twitch. While it reminded him painfully of something his Lady would do, seeing Marinette exhibiting the same mannerisms actual tended to give Chat a bit of a rush; it was hard to fluster Marinette while he was Chat.

"What are you here for, Chat?" she asked playfully, taking a bit of a cookie before shaking it in his direction. "Come to steal my cookies?"

And then sometimes Marinette just made it _way_ too easy.

Chat leaned forward, hands held behind his back.

"Cookies? No…but maybe if you were offering something else just as sweet…."

Marinette actually laughed out loud in spite of herself at this and pushed his face away with her hand. Her mistake, though, was pushing him away with the hand that held the cookie. He took a huge bite out of it, eliciting a loud protest from Marinette. He jumped around the balcony, cookie in mouth, as Marinette chased him around; he only stopped with a "meow-ch!" when she grabbed onto his tail, dropping the whole plate of cookies to latch onto him with both hands. They wrestled momentarily (Marinette yelling things like, "Silly Kitty Cookie Thief!") until Chat sucked the whole cookie into his mouth in one smooth motion. Marinette groaned, long and loud, in an acceptance of defeat. Chat only stopped laughing so he could chew and swallow without choking (because, really, that would be a stupid way for a superhero to die, choking on a cookie).

The silence allowed Chat to fully listen to the music playing through the speakers of Marinette's radio.

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Marinette groaned again as she pulled herself up from the chair where she had tried to tackle Chat. She really needed to remember to only wrestle the superhero for cookies when she was dressed in her own super suit. Although, she realized, that would probably never happen.

"What's this song?" Chat's voice broke Marinette out of her temporary stupor.

"Huh?"

He was crouched in front of her radio.

"What's this song called? Who sings it?"

Marinette listened for a moment.

"Oh, uh, it's an American song," she started. " _Grenade_ , by Bruno Mars."

Chat's ears were down as he silently listened to the rest of the song. When it was over, Marinette noticed that he was decidedly more somber than he had been just minutes before.

"Do you like it?" Marinette asked skeptically.

"Hm. I don't know if _like_ is the right word."

Marinette thought she could understand what he was saying, but couldn't quite read the expression on his slightly crestfallen face.

"It's kind of sad…" she murmured uncertainly. "I don't really understand it." When Chat made no indication he was going to respond, Marinette went on. "I mean, why would a guy repeatedly put himself in a position to get hurt over and over again?"

 _What girl would be worth it?_ Marinette sighed silently. She walked up to and leaned against the railing, looking out over the city.

A mirthless laugh doused in bitterness escaped Chat. She felt him join her at the railing. Unlike her more relaxed pose, his position was somewhat rigid.

"Well, you see, Princess," he spoke in a mockingly authoritative tone. "We males are very _stupid_ that way. What else can we do for a girl we fall for who _won't_ take us seriously?" Chat huffed before deliberately turning away from Marinette. She thought she heard a sniffle or two, but couldn't be sure.

"Especially one who thinks the idea of us wanting to be close is no more than a bad idea."

Marinette balked at this sentence. She couldn't help it. It hit her harder than she would have previously imagined it could. It was true, she knew; she, as Ladybug, would probably never think that them having any kind of _romantic_ relationship as superheroes would be a good idea. But while the thought had before caused Marinette no qualms, seeing Chat's very personal reaction to this notion caused something of a physical pain to pierce her heart. Her whole world seemed to shift without warning, and she was caught in the crossfire of emotions that followed the tilt.

Chat crossed his arms on the railing before dropping his chin into the folded limbs. The sight made him look so incredibly vulnerable, so incredibly _human_ , she felt blood rush up to her cheeks in something that might have been embarrassment…but felt more like…well, regret.

 _Has Ladybug – have_ I _– really caused him that much pain?_

Unwarranted memories flooded Marinette's mind then. Her eyes closed and she saw all the times Chat had willingly – and quite _literally_ – jumped in to save her, whether from Akuma attacks or from her own stubborn pride. One particular and _very_ painful vision painted itself vividly on the inside of her eyelids: Chat's form hovering over her, frozen and disappearing into nothingness. The replay caused a shudder to run its course through her entire body.

Marinette had continually convinced herself that Chat was always just protecting the entity that embodied the name, the _idea_ , of Ladybug. After all, Ladybug was the only one who could cure Akuma. While this fact was true (Chat would always put others first, _especially_ Ladybug), it had never boded well with Marinette that Chat always acted more like he was dispensable. But now, she wondered if his motives were truer to what his words usually professed. Through the flirty pleasantries, was Chat really _that_ caring that he really would take the hits for her just to keep _her_ , _Ladybug_ (Marinette), safe and well? That the girl behind the mask might actually matter more than the mask itself? That maybe he didn't see himself necessarily as _dispensable_ , but maybe he just wanted to do everything in his power to care for, protect, and, if needs be, take every hit he could for _her_?

Even while she thought about it, Marinette still couldn't find it in herself to justify _Ladybug's_ open affection for Chat Noir…but to say that she – _Marinette_ – not only looked forward to Chat visiting her here at her house, and then missed him when he was gone, would be her fondest truth.

Fairly apprehensive, Marinette, biting her lip, moved closer to Chat. He only glanced over at her, a small smile flickering briefly to his lips, when she gently but resolutely started to lace her fingers through his hair. Marinette let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. She truly thought he would have winced or moved away from her touch. However, as the motion became more of a scratch to his kitty ears, Chat leaned quite cat-like into her hand. After a moment, it seemed like the slight touch wasn't enough; he burrowed into her midsection, sliding his folded arms across the balcony to hold his still-resting head. A deep sigh emitted from his turned-away form.

The tenderness of this moment was not only welcome, but _needed_ , for both superheroes.

A series of thoughts hit Marinette as she leaned her head gently on Chat's back in a companionable embrace, one arm draped over him, while one hand continued to knead the areas around his ears. The first thought was that Adrien, her "crush", had no interest in her at all. The second was that Chat was _here_ , was tangible, and truly seemed to love one part of herself. The last thought was more of a plea to fate: If Chat loved her as Ladybug, could he possibly love Marinette as well?

"Chat…" Marinette whispered, nuzzling her face somewhat into his soft blond hair. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Ladybug may not notice how your heart is _feline_ …" She felt Chat stiffen, but Marinette pressed on. "But I _paws_ -itively adore you."

Quickly, but not fast enough that Marinette would be hit by his back, Chat straightened up. They had already been so close, but now Marinette could see _very_ clearly the wide-eyed expression in his glowing green eyes. Her cheeks felt warm _again_ , but she didn't back down from his stare. He seemed to be openly studying her, trying to find truth in her countenance.

"Purrr-lease tell me you're serious," he whispered intently.

"I'm certainly not _kitten_ ," Marinette spoke softly back.

Chat sniggered at this as he closed his eyes, leaning down to touch his forehead to Marinette's.

"Marinette, you don't know how com- _paw_ -letely happy this makes me."

"Even though I'm not Ladybug?"

Marinette shivered slightly when he tentatively wrapped his arms around her waist. She was pulled even closer when he clasped his own clawed hands together behind her back. Marinette could only rest her own hands on his arms. Her heart was beating wildly at their sudden _closeness_ …in more ways than one.

"Lady-who?" Chat murmured before lightly brushing her forehead with a chaste kiss.

"Oh Chat," she said through a sudden smile. "Kiss me or leave me, but please, _please_ , no more teasing me."

With that, a clawed hand moved from her back to her cheek. She felt a sudden pull from around her back and at her face as he lowered his head slightly.

And when his lips touched hers, and he kissed her fervently, she could only return the favor in kind, hoping that it would be enough….

Enough to show this dear cat-boy how much she truly, deeply, had fallen for him.

 _Fin!_

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(( Hey youse guys! I can't tell y'all how much I appreciate you reading my stories and leaving comments. You are AWESOME! I just put this little note in to say that I will be starting a new series next week. It is a loose crossover with Phantom of the Opera, but I think it will be decidedly different altogether. Thanks again for the lovely support! (: ))

(( PS, when Marinette says "kitten" up there, it stands for "kidding", just in case that was unclear. ))


	7. Telling the Truth

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 14

Prompt: Telling the Truth

(( A/N: I seriously apologize for this, hahahaha. Also, you may or may not have to have seen _The Emporer's New Groove_ to understand this. Just saying. ))

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Marinette kept telling herself to breathe…just breathe.

The rain fell around the couple, coming in sheets, pounding harder than their hearts combined. They had been on a picnic in the park, getting closer…before Adrien tried to tell Marinette something. Something that seemed important.

And now they were hiding from the icy buckets pouring from the clouds above, cowering under a building's overhang, covered by their picnic blanket as Adrien held it above the pair. He looked down at Marinette. They were so, _so_ close. He repeated the same words as Marinette had in his own mind over and over again.

 _Breathe…Breathe…Breathe…._

"Well…" started Marinette, biting her lip, a laugh tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Should we take our picnic somewhere less…wet?"

"Marinette," Adrien spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. He had to try again, had to tell her the truth. The burden it was putting on his heart was too big of a strain. Marinette must have noticed the urgency in his voice; her eyes bore into his own as the smile left her face, the mirthful expression replaced by forlorn confusion.

"What is it, Adrien?" she asked tentatively.

Her soft voice was enough to undo him. Before he lost his resolve, Adrien took a deep breath, then pressed on.

"I have to tell you something, Mari." His eyes flickered away for a moment before gazing back at her face. "And I don't think you're going to like it. But…you have to know the truth."

"The truth…?" Marinette asked in wonderment. Their secrets were revealed, or so she had assumed. What more could Adrien possibly have to tell her that would be this important? What had he been l-lying about?

Adrien took a deep breath again, then moved in closer to Marinette. Marinette felt her heart race uncontrollably, and she fought the urge to pull up the picnic basket to settle in between them as some semblance of a shield from his confession.

"Marinette, I…" his voice trailed off again. "I…I never liked your spinach puffs."

Marinette blinked. "What."

" _Never_."

Marinette punched Chat Noir in the arm, _hard_ , before running off into the rain, giggling in spite of herself, a blond model chasing after her.

"No more Disney movies for you!"

 _Fin!_

(( And yes, I _did_ try to write this in the cheesiest way I possibly could. That's fluffy, right? HahahaINeedMoreSleep. (8 (8 (8 ))


	8. Sunshower

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 15

Prompt: Sunshower

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It was a light shower, almost like a mist, falling over Paris. Ladybug had been relishing the feeling of droplets on her cheeks as she sped through the city, sometimes by foot, sometimes flying through the air with her yo-yo. It was a lazy Saturday morning; no Akuma victims, nothing more exciting than stopping to give a 5-year-old fan a fist bump while his mother snapped a candid photo of the pair.

Ladybug stopped at her favorite spot to think. She sagged comfortably in one of the lower criss-crossed beams of the Eiffel Tower, enjoying the pitter-patter where morning silence meets rain. A contended sigh escaped. Not all days were easy – most days were anything _but_ – but today, Ladybug's heart was full of contentment.

A streak of black caught her eye. As she glanced downward, a smile crossed her lips. Under one of the trees near the tower, on all fours, looking tentatively toward the downpouring heavens, was Chat Noir. Ladybug sat up, angling herself toward the cat-boy to watch him better. She was about to call out to him, wondering what sort of quip or witticism she could use, when she stopped herself. Chat had poked his head out from under the canopy of the large tree, eyes still skyward, until a large drip splashed on his face. He recoiled immediately, and Ladybug was too intrigued by his reaction to make her presence known just yet.

Had he never experienced just being in the rain before? They had fought an Akuma in the rain once or twice, sure, but Ladybug knew it was different doing something out of enjoyment than being forced into it; Chat had been forced to fight in the rain, and he would do it no matter what. But had he really been able to enjoy the feel, the sound, the _smell_ that was a drizzling rain shower?

From his reactions, Ladybug thought not.

After the initial splash on his face and subsequent retreat, Chat seemed to think the rain was relatively harmless and had ventured out once again. Ladybug watched as he brought himself up to his full height, and, closing one eye in a preparatory wince, walked out fully from the cover of the trees. He stood there, turning his head back and forth, a clawed hand held up as if to test the feel of the little drops. A grin suddenly crossed his face. Ladybug giggled silently when Chat, on all fours again, began bounding around in the rainy park. It was like watching something between a toddler and kitten experience rain for the first time. Before long, his blond hair stuck to his head, but it didn't seem to matter to him. He was a ball of pure joy. A warm feeling settled into Ladybug's chest despite the wetness on her suit.

When Chat, obviously feeling too damp, shook off the excess water like a real cat, a full laugh burst from Ladybug. She immediately put her hands up to her mouth to stifle the revealing sound.

Two green eyes rounded on her.

Ladybug was afraid that he would have perhaps been embarrassed. She really hadn't been laughing _at him_. The behavior had just been so surprising, so innocent, the feeling it created in her so impossibly freeing, a laugh had escaped merely from her body needing a physical release of the mirth trapped inside. Far from being embarrassed, however, Chat seemed elated to see Ladybug there, watching him. He bounded, cat-like, over and straight up the trusses to Ladybug's perch. His boyish grin stretched from ear to ear. Without a word, he stood in front of her, suspended low enough compared to her own spot to hold an even gaze with her while still upright. He held on with one hand on the eaves to support his weight. Ladybug couldn't help feeling a little intimidated by his energy. It wasn't a bad feeling, just unexpected, and she met his cheeky grin with her own, daring herself to move just a hair closer to him.

That was a mistake.

With only a telling smirk for a warning, Ladybug barely had time to shield her face when Chat released another shudder through his whole body, water from his hair and suit flying in every direction.

"Chat!" Ladybug squealed through bubbling giggles. "I thought cats were supposed to hate water!"

He only laughed at this. "So did I. This though…this is, well, _fun!_ " Chat gestured widely with his free hand, the boyish grin plastered on his face again.

Ladybug couldn't disagree. She followed his gaze up and, his vivacity rubbing off on her, opened her mouth wide, tongue out, trying to catch raindrops. Chat breathed out a short laugh, and when she looked at his confused face, the giggles broke through her again.

"Don't dis it 'til you try it," she playfully scolded.

Chat smirked before leaning back to his full arms reach, head back as far as it could reach, and mimicked Ladybug's "catching-the-falling-rain" pose. Ladybug followed suit, and the two heroes shared a laugh at the pure fun that came from the childish endeavor. When Chat looked at her again, Ladybug meeting his gaze, she felt something new, though not unfamiliar, stir inside her. She knew the feeling, had experienced it before, but never with her crime-fighting partner. It made her breath come just a little faster, her heart beat a little harder, and a flurry of butterflies form in her stomach.

Yes, she knew the feeling – it was something she dealt with on a daily basis – but she had never had the rush that followed in knowing that feeling to be reciprocated.

Something must have shown on the outside of the volcanic reactions happening inside Ladybug when she noticed Chat's smile falter just enough for a slightly puzzled look to pass through his eyes. Before either could say anything, though, the sun peeked out, bright and bewildering. The rain still fell without any interruption, but there the sun shone as though there had never been a cloud in the sky. Ladybug closed her eyes momentarily, basking in the sudden warmth washing over her. Chat, who had glanced up, blinking into the sudden burst of light, looked back at Ladybug. Ladybug burst into laughter at his countenance. He looked as if he wasn't sure if the sky knew it had just completely broken. One ear was up straight and the other flopped down; his eyes were as wide as macaroons.

"Don't worry, Chat," mused Ladybug, still smiling at his bewildered features. "It's called a sunshower."

"That's a thing?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes, that's a thing. It's when the rain is still falling, usually pushed over from a passing storm, but the sun pops out." She sighed, looking around. The shimmering of the light rain mixing with the brightness of the sun over the park, the streets, the river, and the tower itself was nothing short of magical. She inhaled and exhaled, hoping to be able to breathe the sparkling freshness into her soul. When her eyes dropped again to Chat, she tensed slightly. The confused look had left his face, but his eyes were still round in something that resembled shock. His lip twitched as if he wanted to smile but his suddenly lax features were protesting the movement. Ladybug finished her thought from before, albeit more quietly, as she stared back at her Kitty.

"It's beautiful."

"Huh," breathed Chat, still gazing at her. "Yes. Yes, it is."

 _Fin!_

(( Fun fact: I almost spelled out Eiffel Towel without realizing it. It has made me laugh for the last 20 minutes. Hehe. Thanks so much for reading! ))


	9. Flowers

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 16

Prompt: Flowers

(( Reader be aware…hormones. Heh heh. ))

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The scene before Marinette was picturesque.

Adrien Agreste, the love of her life, her superhero companion Chat Noir, was kneeling before her, smiling.

It was her birthday, her sweet 16, and Adrien, flowers in hand, had just asked her what she had wanted to hear for, well, the entire past year:

"Marinette, would you be my girlfriend?"

Marinette seemed to buzz with excitement.

"Yes – yes! O-Of course, Adrien!" Marinette blinked slowly at him. "I'd love to be your girlfriend." She giggled. " _Officially_."

Adrien laughed. He shot up, wrapping Marinette up in a tight hug. They pulled apart a moment later and Adrien gave Marinette the purple flowers he had been carrying.

"Oh! Are these the same type of flowers I gave my Uncle Cheng?" Marinette asked eagerly, pulling the flowers into her chest to get a better look.

"Heh, yeah," Adrien replied. He put his hands on either side of Marinette's head, right behind her ears, entwining his fingers in her hair lightly enough so not to undo her pigtails. "It took me a while to find the same ones, but it was worth the hunt." He purred out the last part…which normally would cause Marinette to blush furiously.

Marinette, though, was slightly unfocused.

As Adrien doted on her, Marinette became more and more enthralled with the purple flowers in her hands. In one movement, she simultaneously pulled the bouquet up to her nose and lowered her face, burying herself deep into the soft petals. She took a large, noisy sniff in.

A low, short chuckled broke from Adrien as he lowered his face toward Marinette, placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

 _Man, these flowers smell_ good _…._

Adrien moved his head to the right and kissed her temple.

 _I wonder if they taste as good as they smell…._

Marinette subconsciously felt Adrien's nearness as he moved his head to her other side and placed a kiss on her other temple.

Marinette seemed to buzz again as she buried her head further into the bunch of sweet-smelling plants.

Adrien, apparently tired of Marinette's lack of attention, gently forced her face upwards. Marinette looked up at him, coming out of her floral-induced torpor. Trying to bring some sort of mood back between the newly-established couple, Adrien tried staring soulfully into Marinette's eyes. Marinette felt her face burn under his intensity. Adrien's eyes flicked briefly to her mouth, then did a quick double take before letting out a loud snort.

"What are you _doing_?" he asked, shaking with laughter.

Marinette only blinked again, confused. Her innocent one-word replay came out completely muffled, causing Adrien to drop down to the ground, clutching his side from laughter-induced stitches.

"Wha-?"

She completely didn't notice at all until that moment that her mouth was stuffed full of flowers.

 _Fin!_

(( Although ladybugs usually eat aphids, they are also known for eating some types of flowers. Marinette loves her some floral arrangements, aphids or no…. (8 ))


	10. AU

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 17

Prompt: AU

(( Bear with me here, haha. You'll see. ))

Darkblade was winning. The four heroes were losing.

The dark, magical wall around the castle was closing in, making its way to meet Darkblade's flag, multiplying the undead knights every second.

 _YOUR TIME IS GROWING SHORT_ , a voice rang in the collective heroes' minds.

Alya turned her orcish eyes away from the encircling gloom and continued to push forward through the large army at the foot of the castle. She wielded her dual axes with precision, slicing through the enemy forces with ease. The strength of their team was sufficient – that wasn't the issue. The sheer number of forces they were facing was the real problem.

Behind Alya, Chloe flittered between Alya and Darkblade's minions near the assaulting catapults. The two females, though they worked well together, were as physically different as they were physically strong. While Alya, tall, green, with her orcish ears and flaming red hair stood stocky and muscling, Chloe was thin and pale, a long ponytail of blond her only feature that would make her stand out from any other human in a crowd; well, her hair, and her giant war-hammer. She had already tried her spell to control the undead twice, but luck didn't seem to be on her side.

"If you're done trying to do whatever the crap you're doing over there," yelled Alya to the yellow-clad blond. "I could really use a healing spell!"

Chloe gritted her teeth, outrageously annoyed with the half-orc fighter's taking advantage of her cleric abilities. Yes, she knew that it was her job to heal the massive, tank-like force that was Alya, but Chloe didn't appreciate being ordered to do so.

"Not that luck has been on my side tonight…" she muttered. Might as well take another roll of the die.

As a bright yellow light shot out of her war-hammer, Chloe couldn't help but grin; finally, she had rolled true.

Higher up on the castle walls, Nino, massive shield in one hand and crook in the other, made his way up the sides. It was slow going; his dwarven body, though strong, was not graced with nimbleness…nor lightness. With a great shout, he raised his crook above his head, watching the bright green light burst through the end and cascade over the heroes like a giant umbrella. Immediately, he felt his courage rise. This was doable. Shaking his shaggy, black, dreadlocked beard, a glint of fury belying his standing as a Holy Knight, Nino proceeded upward. He stuck the shield into the side of the wall and continued to haul himself upward. He had to get to the rendezvous point.

 _WAVE FOUR HAS COMMENCED._ The same malicious voice boomed in their ears again. Nino winced as the sentence was followed by evil laugher. Despite the Aura of Courage he had cast moments before, Nino's confidence in the success of this crusade began to falter.

"Dude…" mumbled Nino. "Tone it down a bit, will ya?"

As Nino neared the battlements near the top of the castle, a sudden onslaught of undead helmets peered over at him. Nino braced himself…would he be able to defend himself?

A saving grace appeared in the form of the elvish rogue with whom he had been planning the meetup. With a swing of her sling, she took out one of the knights. The body fell past Nino and the rest were distracted by the cloaked female. She led them away, leaving just a few stragglers, pulling out her dagger after loading her sling once more. After taking out four more, and seeing another wave coming toward her, Marinette pulled her red hood over her blue hair and ducked away into the shadows. Luck _always_ seemed to be on her side. That was why the rest of the team had trusted her with the specific mission of removing the flag.

A scream flowed through the air from below. Nino, having taken out the rest of the minions by him when he vaulted the wall, looked at the scene playing out below.

The scream had been in triumph.

Chloe stood below with Alya, yellow light fluttering around them, a new army of undead at their command. Her spell had _finally_ worked.

 _DARKBLADE HAS RISEN._

All celebrating died as all the heroes faces shot upward. Another evil laugh rang painfully in their minds. Darkblade had been hiding, biding his time, trying to keep the heroes busy while he built up his own strength.

"Aaahhhh yeah!" Nino shouted, his dreadlocks both on his beard and on his scalp waving around this time. "Boss battle time."

There was a flurry of movement. Darkblade shot into the air, coming down hard, his sword right by Nino. Out of nowhere, Marinette shot out of the shadows and landed her dagger into his side before making her escape. Nino put up his shield. Marinette had bought him enough time to pull up his shield, and distracted Darkblade enough to make him miss his first target: his head. From below, Chloe suddenly shot up, apparently having been hefted by Alya. With a swing of her war-hammer, she made to knock Darkblade over. Her luck had apparently run out, though. Not only did she miss, but she was swatted away from Darkblade, smashing into the side of the castle wall. With a great bounding leap, the three heroes were met with the last member of their team. Alya brought up her full, grea, green height and swirled her battle axes around once before landing them into Darkblade.

The next half an hour was the tensest yet. Chloe and Nino shot spells, some more successfully than others. Alya pounded and sliced, trying to literally throw her weight around. Marinette snuck in and out of shadows, planting sharp dagger points into every chink of Darkblade's armor. When the heroes became too tired, and their luck started to run out, the black wall of magic growing ever nearer, Chloe snapped. With a shout that made everyone's hairs stand on end (though, to be fair, Alya's were already swarming around her), Chloe cast her last spell, a perfect 20. The flames shot out of her war-hammer, a mix of bright and neon yellows. Everyone turned away at the brightness of the light. Everyone except for an extremely adamant Chloe, who continued to shout in triumphant…lunacy. When the light died away, the allied heroes turned, blinking at the spot where Darkblade should be…only to see a pair of steaming boots.

Darkblade was gone.

Except the black curtain of undead magic, for some reason, continued to encroach ever nearer. Without any more hesitation, Nino ran to Marinette. The time for their original plan had come. Marinette matched Nino's pace as she hurried toward him. With a loud " _HUH!_ " Nino hefted Marinette into the air with his shield. In the same moment, Alya threw one of her axes into the air. Marinette caught the heavy object and gave it a mighty swing. She had flown up to the flagpole, and in one great movement, she sliced it into two. A beam of white light shot out, the blackness that had been surrounding them fizzled away, sucked into what immediately became a sunny sky.

A collective sigh through the four friends gave way into loud whooping. They had done it!

 _CONGRATULATIONS, HEROES…._

 _BUT THE FIGHT HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN._

Marinette alighted back into the group. Alya picked up her axe that had clattered to the ground. They all looked around. The bodies of the undead knights – except for the ones still under Chloe's control – started to shake. They were…reanimating.

A laugh broke through the silence. The four friends turned slowly to a figure perched upon one of the castle's nearby turrets.

"Funny thing, about the undead…" the voice purred, dripping with acid. He lifted his head, cat ears and tail twitching excitedly. "They can't _actually_ be killed."

"Oh my gosh, Adrien." Chloe's voice rang out, staring across the table at the Cheshire-cat grin on the model's face. "Did you _seriously_ make yourself into the next villain?"

The boy at the head of the table of friends merely flicked a smug look to each of his friends in turn.

"The Dungeon Master gets to do whatever he wants. And it feels… _paw_ -some"

A collective groan rang through the costumed friends as they looked around at each other.

"Alright, I'm out," snapped Chloe, picking up her figure, her character sheet, and a sleepy Pollen. "Later, losers."

A communal, "Bye, Chlo," rang out.

"Gall, how long were we sitting there?" Alya moaned, standing up and rubbing her backside before pulling off her fake orc ears and shaking out her overly stiff hair.

"Oh…only about four hours this time," replied Nino with a yawn. Alya grunted in reply.

The couple left a few minutes later, figures in Alya's bag, Trixx and Wayzz chittering happily behind them.

Marinette was helping Adrien clean up from their latest campaign. After the fourth yawn, Adrien laughed.

"You don't have to help you know. You can go home. It is…well, I guess it is _only_ 3:00 a.m."

Marinette giggled tiredly. She stretched her arms up, eyes closed, and Adrien, unable to help himself, grabbed her and started tickling her.

"Oh, my gosh! HAHA Adrien, STOP! HAhahahaha STAAWWWWWWWP –"

Her pleas stopped when her instincts suddenly kicked in. Without _really_ meaning to, Marinette grabbed one of Adrien's hands and flipped him over unto his back. He laughed through a groan.

"GAH! Adrien, I'm so sorry!"

Marinette bent over him and touched his face gingerly.

"Geez," he slightly wheezed out. "How many times are you going to make me fall for you?" She giggled. "I only have _nine_ lives."

"Hmmm…" Marinette looked thoughtful. "Well, I'd say you'd only have able seven left now."

Adrien huffed, then smiled, reaching up to push a loose hair away from Marinette's face, tucking it behind one of her cute, fake elf ears. "You'd known I'd spend every single one with you."

"You are so cheesy," she whispered, bending down and brushing his nose with her own.

"You love it."

"I do."

Marinette closed the small gap between their faces and placed a soft kiss on Adrien's forehead.

"I should really get going, Dungeon Master."

"I know, Lady Scarlet."

She giggled again at her Character's name.

Minutes later, Adrien watched from his window as Ladybug swung through the skies.

"You two make me sick, you know that, right?"

Adrien just shook his head at Plagg's words, only offering, besides a fresh cheese wedge, two words in response:

"Shut up."

 _Fin!_

(( Laugh, roll your eyes, or mock me all you want, but this was my favorite thing that popped into my mind when I thought about Alternate Universes. I seriously could not stop laughing through the whole thing. I know it was dumb, haha! But here's the summary that I would have put at the beginning, but I didn't want to divulge anything: This is a year or so later, when Chloe and Alya have their miraculouses, and in a world where we are going to assume or pretend that Nino gets the turtle. I almost added Nathanael here with the peacock, but I really can't seem him here. Also, Chloe was continually rolling poorly. And this all started as a "strategy meeting" for discussing ways to defeat Hawk Moth. Nice, Adrien. And slowly it progressed to a weekly/monthly late-night sneaking out with full costumes and figures made by Marinette. The Kwamis love the gettogethers. Hahaha this took way too much research to make it NOT ridiculous. But I hope you enjoyed it regardless. Hehe. (8 Also, I usually read through these like, 3 times to proofread and still miss a ton of stuff, but I am not doing it tonight! So sorry if it has a ton of errors. Anyway, keep smiling, and don't get Akumatized! )) ((OH! And their Character names: Nino: Sir Tortue (turtle in French), Dwarf Paladin. Chloe: Madame Mellona (Mellona was the Roman goddess of the bees), Human Cleric. Alya: Sinopa Yegoth (Sinopa means fox, and Yegoth is just a generated orc name), Half-Orc Fighter. Marinette: Lady Scarlet (obvious reasons), Elf Rogue. Because I knew you were wondering. HAHAHA Okay time for sleep. ))


	11. Gaming

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 18

Prompt: Gaming

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When Mecha Strike Pocket Edition came out for iPhone and iOS, Marinette was pretty excited.

When Mecha Strike Pocket Edition 2 was released, and you could connect with and play with friends, Marinette was ecstatic. Her friends, however, were not. At least, not after a straight week of absolute 'pwning.'

To put it frankly, Marinette was obsessed. And she was becoming unbearable to be around.

Adrien wasn't much better, but he hid it better. While Marinette might sneak out her phone and play during a boring lesson, Adrien would wait until his car ride home, between lessons, or during long photoshoots, only occasionally pulling it out during lunch, and only if Nino and Alya were busy talking. Marinette, though he never could get much conversation out of her anyway, was zoning out more than usual, always on her phone.

When Tikki suggested to Marinette that she might have some sort of addiction to the game, Marinette tried to dismiss it…until Tikki asked her what she had done that was productive that day. When there was no answer other than defensive sputtering, Marinette realized that Tikki had a point. So Marinette agreed to go out on a patrol around the city to make up for the lackluster day. As she was about to leave through her ceiling escape, though, Marinette might have grabbed her phone…. You know, just in case she finished patrol early.

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As Chat prowled around during his nightly escapade, his heart fluttered when he spotted Ladybug sitting on a rooftop overlooking the Eiffel Tower. She presented a picturesque scene; a red figure, blue hair, the famous landmark lit up behind her, the sun's last rays slicing through the darkening of dusk. Chat bounded up to her on all fours. When he came up to her side, he heard a familiar sound. Glancing down, he saw Ladybug held a device: her phone. The theme song from Mecha Strike blasted over the speakers. Standing over her, seemingly unnoticed, Chat watched as Ladybug mercilessly destroyed her opponent.

"Awesome!" Chat yelled out. Ladybug jumped, yelped, and nearly lost her phone over the edge of the building. "I knew you played Mecha Strike, but I didn't know you were _good_!"

The excitement in his voice came out physically in the way he clasped his hands together by his face, a sudden lovesick expression in his eyes. Ladybug rolled her own eyes and looked annoyed.

"Why on Earth would you think I wasn't good?" she spat irritably. "I'm pretty sure I kicked Gamer's _butt_ pretty soundly when we battled him.

Chat seemed stuck. However he answered this was not going to be good. He decided to bypass the first question and simply add on to her second thought.

"I _did_ help in that, you know."

She snorted, a playful smile on her face. "I'm pretty sure you were a little unsteady on your paws, Kitty Cat."

Chat narrowed his eyes at her. Then a sly smile crossed his face.

"I might have been unsteady on my _paws_ , M'lady, but I'm not _kitten_ when I say I did pretty great with my _guns_." Chat flexed in a model-worthy pose, just for good measure. Then he pulled his hands behind him and lowered his face to her. "Though I'll always have _you_ in my sights."

"Are you saying you're trying to shoot me?" Ladybug said, trying to be affronted, but the comment only brought out bubbling laughter from both the heroes.

"If I was though, this cat would have you in the bag." Chat looked smug.

"Big talk for a little Kitty," Ladybug jeered. "Anyway, what's your gamer tag?"

"My what now?" Chat blinked at the sudden question, not quite comprehending what Ladybug had asked.

She laughed. "Your gamer tag," she repeated, her eyes smiling mischievously. "I'm assuming if you don't think I'm that _good_ , you must think you're quite the champion?"

At Chat's blank stare, she pointed to her phone.

When Chat glanced down at it, he saw that she had a new game window opened, the screen awaiting a friend's username to start the rumble. Chat grabbed the phone eagerly from her hands and punched in his gamer tag. When Ladybug glanced down at it, she shot him a mocking look, though a smile played at the corners of her mouth.

"Seriously?"

Chat only grinned.

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When Marinette came in through the door – just in time – she picked up her phone again and pointedly did not look at the scowling Kwami as Tikki flew out of her earring. Instead, she ran downstairs and grabbed all the leftover cookies from the bakery before racing back up to her room, her eyes never leaving the screen. With Tikki, placated, albeit irritable, Marinette got dressed and ready for the night before sitting on her bed, waiting. She wasn't sure where Chat lived, and didn't know how long it would take him to get home, but she figured she wouldn't have to wait too long for him to accept her challenge. Within the next five minutes her "patience" was rewarded.

 ** _IAmChatHearMePurr_** _has accepted the challenge from_ _ **TheTrueLuckster01**_ _._

 ** _3…2…1…FIGHT!_**

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Adrien knew this was war.

They were 24 games in, and he and Ladybug were at another tie. He had started to lag behind in the night, but when she accepted the vengeful requests in the morning, he began to dominate, winning the last 3 games in a row. Thinking about how _paws_ -itively miffed Ladybug must be at his sudden winning streak put a huge smile on his face (and may or may not be giving him a great ear-scratch to his ego).

He barely acknowledged Nino's hello, and could only smirk sidelong at Alya as she shook her head first at Adrien and then pointedly toward Marinette, who was also deep into her own Mecha Strike game. He would have to get Marinette's gamer tag later. It was definitely more fun playing against people he knew. Though, he thought to himself, Marinette would probably kick his butt pretty soundly.

When his friends began walking through the hall toward their first class, Adrien followed blindly an equally zoned out Marinette. He slid into the bench, eyes still on his screen. The battle had been going on for about 15 minutes straight now, and Adrien was getting a bit stressed. He knew his tongue was poking out in concentration, and that he probably looked silly, but he couldn't worry about that now. Ladybug needed to go _down_.

Adrien felt sweat bead up on his forehead. His leg started to shake under the bench in anticipation, fingers flying as he punched in move after move. Ladybug's health bar was dropping – he got a good hit in! Now to go for the final hit and –

"YES! YES YES YES YES YES…!"

But the shouting wasn't coming from Adrien. Instead, he had let out a long, drawn out, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" His hands, one still gripping his phone, flew to the side face and flung himself backward, smacking his head on the desk behind him. Then he realized someone was still celebrating. He glanced up and over, backward, and saw Marinette, phone in hand, dancing around victoriously, still shouting her war cry.

" _YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES-_ "

Adrien couldn't look away, and Marinette seemed to be in her own world. Her eyes were closed and she was doing the 'cabbage patch' dance, earning her a few giggles throughout the classroom. Adrien's eyes, however, widened slightly, a thought creeping into his mind.

At Alya's sound smack on her arm, Marinette froze, mid-dance, eyes shooting open. The class roared in laughter. Marinette flicked her eyes first to Alya. Alya snorted before pointing to Adrien. Adrien flushed, realizing he was still looking upward and backward at her. Marinette turned her gaze to him and could only stare, eyes flicking momentarily to the phone is his hand. Another moment passed and Marinette turned from pink to red to an almost puce color (yes, Adrien knew what 'puce' was...don't ask why).

The bell rang, signaling the start of class

Adrien brought his eyes to the front of the class in a blank stare. He heard a _bang_ and figured Marinette had either sat down hard or passed out. As much as he really, _really_ wanted to look, he couldn't bring himself to turn around. Instead, he buried his ever-warming face into his folded arms. When Miss Bustier called his name for roll call, a muffled, though decidedly high-pitched "Present!" was all that could escape. Marinette wasn't much better. Her voice sounded completely strangled, her "Present!" coming out as a garbled mess. At both students' ridiculous responses, their classmates laughed again.

Class officially started and Adrien knew he wouldn't get away with his face hiding in his hands any longer. Reluctantly, he raised his head, though his attention was anywhere but on the teacher or the board in front of him. Five minutes passed and a folded square of paper landed deftly by his elbow. He had seen kids passing notes before, but had never done it himself. Without looking around, he nervously opened up the paper under the desk. Only two things were written – well, _drawn_ – on the paper: A miniature kitty face and a question mark.

With an excited smile, Adrien, heart suddenly pounding, drew a slightly sloppier, though not bad, picture of a round face with a smile and cat ears, followed by a period. Next, he drew a birds-eye view of a ladybug with five spots on its wings, then a question mark. He folded the paper up, though he couldn't do it as neatly as Marinette had done, and, checking to see Miss Bustier wasn't looking, tossed it up to the desk behind him.

It took an agonizingly long time for him to get a response. When the paper finally made it back to him, he opened it almost hungrily. He gasped when he looked at the page, shoving a fist in front of his mouth to keep whatever other sounds that wanted to escape inside.

On the page was a collage of drawings. In the forefront was a battle between the Ladybug Mech and the Black Cat Mech in exquisite detail. Around the corners were scenes from their shared double life captured in cartoon form, the character design not unlike the dolls Marinette had sewn: Ladybug yo-yoing through the city with Chat Noir on all fours at her heels, Chat Noir sneezing as Ladybug tickled him with a feather, the couple shoulder to shoulder looking at the Eiffel Tower, and, in the far right corner, smaller than the rest, a tiny Ladybug kissing a tiny Chat Noir's cheek, one leg popped up, Chat Noir obviously swooning.

It was too much for Adrien. He seemed to have shut down, and all he could imagine was replaying the little scene from the corner of the page in his mind's eye; he sincerely hoped that _when_ it actually happened, he would be more of a participant than a bystander.

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It wasn't until later, after eating lunch with Adrien/Chat at the bakery, after being permanently heated through all of school, after saying a blushing goodbye at the end of school, and after a late-night patrol (that turned into her doodle of them sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower), that the reality actually hit Marinette.

And she screamed for a long, long, _long_ time.

 _Fin!_

(( Thank you SO MUCH for reading! Y'all make it worthwhile! (: ))

(( And FYI, I considered making this about the four friends playing Guitar Hero: World Tour. Alya would do the vocals, Nino bass, Marinette guitar, and Adrien on the drums. And Adrien might laugh and mention how this was so much more fun than playing on garbage can lids, and Marinette might laugh and talk about how they should try playing guitar strings when they were strapped to a broom and a bucket, and Alya might pass out, followed by Marinette. Just sayiin'. Heh heh. ))


	12. Friends

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 19

Prompt: Friends

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From the moment the superheroes pounded their fists for the first time, they both knew they would be best friends. Fighting Stoneheart had not only been exhilarating for the pair, but also the most fun either of them had had in their lives. Both teenagers were able to be free, whether from restrictions or inhibitions, physical or personality-wise.

When Marinette walked into class the next day, she stared hard at the back of the new kid – Adrien, right? – as he bent over her chair. The blond hair looked familiar. When he stood up and started telling off Chloe, Marinette gasped. No way!

At the sharp intake of breath, Adrien had turned around.

The two teenagers blinked at each other. Then they doubled over, laughing.

"It's you!"

Marinette hurried over to his outstretched fist. "Pound it!"

Then they both joined in in telling off Chloe.

It was the perfect start to a great friendship.

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For the next two years, the superduo became the epitome of beset friends, in and out of the suits. When Adrien would have an especially crappy day, Ladybug would show up late at night with movies or games and stay until he felt better. When Marinette needed company, someone to rant to about superhero-ing, or help with a design, Chat Noir was always there…especially when there was a promise of croissants. Marinette would often frequent Adrien home from school, where they would work on homework for a while before battling at DDR or writing/reading beyond second-rate fanfiction on the Ladyblog, giggling incessantly. Adrien was at the bakery every weekend he could get away, and would often crash on the couch (it was a testament to really how _much_ Gabriel Agreste _adored_ Marinette that he would allow this) until his next obligation. Marinette's parents even gave him his own drawer in their main bathroom.

As Ladybug and Chat Noir, they worked flawlessly together. It was a perfect mix of yin and yang, push and pull, give and take. For two years the superheroes truly became a super partnership. Knowing each other as well as they did allowed them to predict what the other was about to do, and in turn complement their actions; they were two pieces to a whole.

After patrols they usually indulged in giving each other relationship advice, dishing gossip about crushes, and helping each other through some tough personal issues. Marinette was there for Adrien when the loneliness and oppression that was his life would be too much for him to handle. Adrien would lift Marinette up, giving her the faith in herself she needed when her personal anxieties became too extensive, her doubts and fears pushing to the forefront. There was a comfort between the two of them at knowing their relationship was completely platonic: they were a dynamic duo, for sure, but as brother and sister. There was no nervousness, no need to impress. They existed to simply be there for each other.

For two years, Adrien and Marinette just _worked_.

After two years, something… _shifted_.

There was no reason for it – _really_ – but Marinette suddenly found herself sort of, well, deciding that any girl that was interested in Adrien wasn't good enough for him. So she did what any best friend would. She told them lies.

"Oh, Aurore, you don't want to go barking up _that_ tree…I swear to you, he doesn't even know what a tampon is."

"He seriously smells like cheese. Like, all the time. Yeah, really! I'm just used to it."

"I watched him cry during Lion King. He may be a model, but I tell you, that was some _ugly_ crying."

It was because she was trying to _protect_ Adrien. That's what she continually told herself.

Adrien, meanwhile, was facing a similar problem.

He had never been a bully, and had never had a vendetta against anyone, but here he was, causing secret harm and/or social inconvenience to someone for no reason at all. Ok, it really was for a reason. Marinette deserved _so much better_ than Nathanael. So he may or may not have planned a few _well-meaning_ pranks to pull on him. Well-meaning. Pranks. Secretly. From just him.

Like having Plagg tie his shoe laces together while they sat in science class. And at lunch. And at English.

And maybe breaking apart and then restacking the shelves in his locker when no one was there so his books would fall all over him the next time he opened it.

And really, he had _no idea_ how Nathanael's gym shorts always seemed to be 2 sizes too small no matter how many extras he brought with him the class time before.

…Maybe it was a little mean. But Marinette needed to realize on her own that her _boyfriend_ was not her match. No, it didn't matter if she liked Nath or not. Adrien knew _her_. At least that's how he justified it. And Plagg was totally on board with the idea and how to deal with it, so it had to be right, right (that should not have been a sign to give the "OK" to _any_ idea)?

Akuma attacks came, and the duo saw a shift in each other then too. Instead just complementing each other, it became an all-out brawl to _save_ each other. It always took twice as long to free the Akuma victim now, and Ladybug and Chat had actually started to argue over it. Something about Chat saying he was dispensable, and something about how Ladybug said she was going to punch him in the face if he ever said anything like that again.

When it came to school dances, Adrien and Marinette had usually attended together, until they started getting asked by other people. And until Marinette got her boyfriend. Adrien had worked with her for so long to work up the courage to tell Nath how she felt. And now, watching her at every school dance with _him_ instead of _him_ , Adrien was seriously regretting his decision to not just encourage Marinette to be a nun.

For the last few weeks, Marinette had grown up in his eyes. And now there was something about seeing Marinette in the low lights of the dressed-up gym in a fancy, handmade dress that did something to his brain and gut that he didn't understand. So now, instead of going with some other girl (somehow the asking from the ladies had _really_ died down as of late…), he tagged along with Nino and Alya and drank himself into a sugar high before sprinting out into the night as Chat Noir and later crashing into a self-inflicted sugar coma on Marinette's couch (to be far, the sunshine child gets no sugar, so it really wasn't that hard to accomplish).

 _This_ time, though, was different.

When Marinette walked in with Nathanael, Nath still had that undeterred glimmer of sickening adoration on his face ("It's fake, Marinette! Don't fall for it!"), but Marinette looked…well, she looked _absolutely stunning_ , but beyond that, her eyes raked the scene around her instead of focusing on her date. When she locked eyes with Adrien, and stopped in her steps, wide-eyed, his heart stopped. When Nathanael led her away to who-knows-where-darn-him, Adrien headed straight for the punch bowl again. Until, that is, Nino leapt in front of him and slapped his hand away.

"What-!"

"NO." It was Nino _and_ Alya's voices, chorused, that made Adrien bristle defensively. If it had just been Nino, Adrien would have simply side-stepped him and continued on with his plan. With Alya there, however, his plan was doomed.

Marinette, meanwhile, couldn't keep her focus. When had Adrien grown up so much? He always looked _good_ in his clothes – that was kind of his _job_ – but she didn't think his clothes had ever fit _him_ so well as they did that night. He looked…disheveled. She only noticed because the look on his face matched what she was feeling on the inside. Like something was missing, some piece of her had broken off and she couldn't find it again.

When Marinette started slow dancing with Nathanael, as she had many times before, the thrill of being with him was absent. Maybe it was because she had been focusing on all of Adrien's "flaws", but her brain clicked into high gear at the thought, _What are all of Nathanael's flaws?_

Well, his hands aren't very strong.

His shoulders could be broader, taller.

He was too thin, and pale. Did he ever go outside?

If there was an Akuma attack, would he be able to protect her?

Though that thought physically jolted her, making her stop abruptly during their slow dance and look up at her date's confused eyes, she couldn't stop the next thoughts from tumbling out.

 _Would I always have to be the strong one?_

 _Could he really ever protect me?_

The thought was stifling. Suddenly the room was too hot, she was too close…Nathanael was too close. When he held her still, she realized he had somehow – _how the hay?_ – misread her panic for a plea for a…kiss? Oh, gosh, he was kissing her…and it wasn't the same. _NO!_ She didn't like it. She had to get away. When Marinette pushed against him, he tried to keep her there, and she looked into his eyes….

They definitely weren't green enough.

Adrien, who had dive-bombed for the punch bowl when he saw the couple he couldn't _take his darn eyes off of_ start _kissing_ , was attempting fisticuffs with Nino while Alya had jumped on his back. When Marinette yelled at Nathanael, the three froze together, watching the events unfold. Adrien was hopeful, Alya was worried, and Nino…well, Nino was just superbly uncomfortable as Adrien had sat on him, pulling a fist up behind his head, ready to swing. They couldn't hear the words Marinette was shouting, but they could see she was red-faced. And then she was running for the door.

There was a scuffle as Adrien, Alya, and Nino tried to scramble up at the same time. What resulted was a cat-like boy squeezing his way out from the other two who he left crumpled on top of each other in a heap on the gym floor.

qpqpqpqp

The night air was crisp and cold. There was a figure in a red dress, red heels, long, bluenette hair pulled into a red tie.

"Marinette?" Adrien said breathlessly as he burst through the doors of the school.

"Adrien?" Marinette whipped around, the shock evident on her face, in her ever-moistening eyes. He was the only person she wanted to see. Coincidentally, he was also the _last_ person she wanted to see. At a impasse in her mind, she could only stand, frozen.

Adrien knew he was breathing in too deep of breaths too rapidly to justify the cause being only from the short jaunt from the gym to the outside. He continued his jog up to Marinette and put a shaky hand on her shoulder.

"Marinette, is everything alright? We-we saw –"

Marinette looked away, lip trembling slightly. "It's over."

"What?"

"Nath and I. I-It's, we're over. Done."

Adrien tried not to be happy about this, though his heart was doing backflips. Right now, though, Marinette was hurting.

"Oh, Marinette," Adrien whispered, pulling her into him in a tight hug. "Marinette, I'm so sorry."

She sobbed softly. _Adrien has always protected me_ , she thought.

He couldn't know…he couldn't know how much this now was absolutely _killing_ her.

Adrien could only enjoy the feel of Marinette in his arms as he held her, not sure how long it would last, this time or ever after. He needed to know some things, though…like if he was going to have to beat up a tomato head tonight.

"Marinette," he whispered into her hair. "Did he hurt you?"

Marinette shook her head. _Adrien is still protecting me._

Adrien sighed, relieved.

"What can I do?"

…. _Adrien will always protect me._

Marinette looked up into his just-right green eyes. He still held her tight, his face almost uncomfortably close from having laid his head down on hers a moment before. She blushed suddenly as a thought raced unwittingly into her head in answer to his question.

 _Oh, I could name a few things you could do_.

What came out of her mouth, though, was something completely different.

"I've been telling girls not to date you."

Adrien blinked at the admission. "Say what?"

"Please don't make me repeat it."

"Oh, I definitely heard you, but I'm not sure if you know what you just said."

"I told Aurore you didn't know what a tampon was."

Adrien snorted, the unexpected confession making his insides tighten with mirth. He distinctly remembered the "tampon rocket war" he, Marinette, Alya, and Nino had had when they were freshly 16, following a conversation when Adrien asked about what the heck those things were.

"W-Why would you do that?" he asked, a laugh breaking in his voice.

Marinette bit her lip before answering, looking away from Adrien. "I don't know."

There was something Marinette wasn't telling him. Sure, he knew there was a _LOT_ he wasn't tell _her_ , but that was beside the point. This all had to link together…why did she break up with Nath? Why did she tell lies about him to other girls? He thought – _hoped_ – he knew the answer.

"Marinette, why did you break up with Nathanael?"

Marinette's eyes snapped back to Adrien, the wide, Bambi-like nature to them completely, _completely_ foreign to him. It rattled him to the core, and he felt knocked off-center. He seemed to either have picked the _right_ question, or the really, really, _really_ wrong question.

"I…" Marinette croaked out, then swallowed loudly.

Adrien must have picked the right question. _Please, PLEASE…._

"Don't tell me 'You don't know', because you know I won't buy it," he encouraged, after an achingly long moment of silence.

Marinette blushed again, a slight fierceness breaking through the innocently wide eyes at Adrien's challenge. As fast as it had entered, though, it was gone, and Marinette started to look panicked once more. Adrien knew that look. She was going to run.

And she did try. But it was a testament to her partner and how well he knew her that he was prepared for exactly what he knew she would do first. She yelled for Tikki. As the pink light encased her, dressing her up as Ladybug, Adrien, rather than backing off, grabbed her wrists and held her tight. He then shifted his weight a little to the side, knowing there would be a kick next to try to free herself from him. This might not have been the first time this had happened. Although, really, it was usually due to her trying to run away after an ill-used or poorly-derived pun.

"Plagg, CLAWS OUT!"

It was almost slow motion. The kick came, but Adrien had a great deal more mass than he used to. He was able to hold at least a little more steady than the last time. At least he still had a firm grip on her wrists…though, admittedly, that kick had _hurt!_

"CHAT, LET ME GO!"

"NO."  
When Marinette tried to wring her hands away from Adrien, he waited until she slacked momentarily before rapidly pulling her into him, constricting her arms with his own, facing her out and away from his body.

Marinette was furious. _When the heck did he get so BIG!? This isn't FAIR!_ Try as she might – and she did try, literally kicking and screaming – she couldn't get away.

"Marinette, stop! _STOP!_ "

They were both breathing heavily now. Marinette relented.

"What is going _on_ -?"

"He's _NOT. YOU._ "

"-with y- what?"

Adrien felt Marinette go almost completely slack in his arms.

"I broke up with Nathanael b-because h-he's…not you."

Adrien stared blankly ahead into the night air. "Not…me? What?"

"Gall! Do I have to _spell it out for you!?_ I LOVE YOU, YOU BIG, STUPID, DENSE –"

Adrien turned Marinette around without warning and didn't wait for anymore invitation. He justified it because 1, he thought that her confession was invitation enough, and 2, she had just called him names and owed him retribution. So, Adrien kissed her.

Thoroughly.

Like, a lot.

And then some more.

And she, well, she seemed to enjoy it. At least she didn't pull away yet, right?

When Adrien allowed her to break free from him, he wanted to say something romantic, let her know that he was totally on board with this whole new "I love you" thing she was into, but what came out was:

"I've been punking your boyfriend."

Marinette giggled breathily into him. She whispered two words before pulling him against her again, and that made everything about that night, that moment, absolutely right.

"I know."

 _Fin!_

 **BONUS!**

Nino was trying not to double over in uncontrollable laughter at his girlfriend. She had gasped for a good 5 minutes straight before is morphed into a silent scream. He constantly flitted his recording phone between Alya and the couple they had been watching for some time now. No amount of sound editing would ever get his guffaws out of the video, but he didn't care. This was hilarious. When he turned back from Alya to the now-costume-clad super duo that they just found out were secretly their best friends, he decided to let their presence known to the superheroes. Just for good measure.

"HEY ADRIEN! MARINETTE!"

A once-giggling Chat Noir and Ladybug looked over, shocked. Nino pumped a fist into the air in victory.

"LADYNOIRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

qpqpqpqp

(( THANKS FOR READING I WUV MEW ALL. (8 ))


	13. Distance

(( So…it's a 2-for-1 on the prompt today. I hope you enjoy! And thanks for reading. (: ))

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 21

Prompt: Distance

qpqpqpqp

Ladybug alighted quietly onto the rooftop, laden basket in hand. At a glance across the street, she could tell there was still time; steam was coming out of the lit-up door in the darkened room. As quickly as she could, she sat down, legs hanging over the rooftop, and emptied the contents of her basket around her. Hot chocolate, croissants, cookies, and even a piece of chocolate cake she may or may not get to. The last thing she pulled out was what she indulged in first. Holding the spray can above her upturned head, she pushed the nozzle, filling her entire mouth with whipped cream.

Ten minutes into the food fest, movement appeared in the darkened room. With Spring here, and the accompanying warm weather, the window had been opened, and Ladybug was excited to experience her favorite Saturday night activity in a decidedly upgraded way. She covered her eyes with a hand, peeking through the cracks in her fingers to make sure the scene was…decent. It always was, but, she thought with a flush, she never took chances. As rock-star-music-video-worthy steam billowed out of the fully opened door, Ladybug heard the all-too-familiar chords blare through the open window.

 _YES! THIS IS MY FAVORITE ALBUM!_

At the start of the actual lyrics, the long-awaited subject of _why_ she was really there made his appearance.

Adrien Agreste burst out of his bathroom door in full model walk, a hairbrush in his hand, ladybug-print t-shirt and pajama pants hanging off him.

" _I may run and hide when you're screamin' my name, alriiiight_ ," he mouthed to the music, flipping his hair suddenly and turning around and slinking into a moonwalk.

Ladybug giggled with glee, and perhaps a good dose of obsessive admiration, absentmindedly shoving an entire croissant into her mouth.

By the start of the second song, Ladybug was fangirling beyond what was normal…or healthy.

She closed her eyes momentarily at the sheer impact of the harmonics near the end of the song, singing along loudly without realizing it.

"No matter the _dis-TANCE_ , I want you to KNOW! That deep down insiiiiide of _MEEEEEEEEEE-!_ "

Oh, Ladybug was soooo into this weekly ritual. And when she opened her eyes, she saw that Adrien knew it now too. He stood at his open window, hairbrush still in his hand, his face the same color as his pajamas.

 _Oh. Crap._

Frozen for just a moment, Ladybug could only stare as Adrien huffily ran back into his bathroom and slammed the door shut. At the loud bang of the door, Ladybug scrambled up, the heat off of her cheeks making her eyes water slightly. All she could think about was gathering up all this _stuff_ and getting the _heck out of Dodge!_

If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed the green flash of light.

And if she had _really_ been paying attention, she would have seen an extremely angry Chat Noir barreling out of a hatch on the roof of the Agreste mansion.

As it was, Ladybug was only aware of Chat's presence when he shrieked as he leapt through the air towards her. Ladybug yelped at the sound and decided that the basket could be replaced. She scurried off at a dead run, wondering what the _heck_ had happened to her perfect night?

"LADYBUG!" Chat Noir shouted behind her. "YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO SEEEEEE!"

 _OH. CRAP._

Ladybug reeled at the abrupt confession from Chat Noir. She didn't have time to think more about it though. All she could think of now was the irony of how tonight's endeavor was now wholly opposite of what she had been trying to accomplish all day, month, year.

She scurried through Paris, trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and (an awfully, though understandably, miffed) Adrien Agreste.

 _Fin!_

 **BONUS! Story Number 2!**

It was never about the distance. It was always about having to leave in the first place.

There was something hard about watching someone walk out the door. There was something utterly heart-wrenching about watching someone you love wholly and completely walk out the door.

For Marinette, she couldn't stand it.

Every time Adrien left, whether it was for work, a trip to the store, or something else, it _killed_ her.

Perhaps being a superhero and knowing there was always a chance of something going _wrong_ made the idea of him one day not coming back a realistic possibility.

Perhaps it was from fighting every day for years to be able to get the guts to even talk to him that made her feel like she deserved all the time she had left in the world to be right by his side.

It was painful, daily, to watch him go.

She wasn't sure it would get any easier. And part of her wasn't sure she _wanted_ it to get easier. This was something she had labored incessantly to achieve, this feeling…and especially to have this feeling reciprocated.

 _Why was this so hard!?_

Now, though, as she paced the floor, wringing her hands together, Marinette knew she would have to get a better hold on her emotions. There was a reason for these feelings, and the more she thought about it, the worse it became.

 _I can do this_ , she told herself for the thousandth time.

 _My identity has to be secret_ , she reaffirmed for the millionth time.

And there it was. The reason it hurt _so_ much: the fear that one day she might not come back, and he wouldn't know why. Or that she wouldn't _be_ _enough_ to save him, and he would be gone forever because of her.

Marinette dreaded watching him leave every day because it was another time he wasn't there where she could protect him. It was another time where she had to make an excuse to lie to him.

The pacing resumed, having stopped momentarily when Marinette rounded back to the core of her fears. When Adrien walked through the door moments later, Marinette pulled him into a tight embrace, burying her face into his chest. The door swung shut and she felt Adrien cradle her in his arms. A whispered phrase and a pink light later, and Adrien now held a weeping Ladybug.

The look on his face was shock, understandably.

The look on his face _now_ was teary happiness, and Marinette had no idea why.

Until a flash of green came over him. And suddenly Ladybug was wrapped in the arms of Chat Noir.

And suddenly Ladybug had closed every distance, her lips closing in on his.

And suddenly Chat Noir knew that no matter the distance, no matter how far apart one might be from the other, they would always come back to each other.

It was home.

 _Fin, again!_

(( Yes, I had to put "no matter the distance". I had to, and I regret nothing. ))


	14. Whoops

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 22

Prompt: Whoops

 _When do you think we should tell them?_

 ** _Tell them?! Are you serious?_**

 _Yes! I can't stand this any longer. It really is killing me._

 ** _No, it really isn't._**

 _Oh, SHUT UP._

 ** _Haha…You've been trying to get me to shut up for a loooong time._**

 _Thank you, Captain Obvious._

 ** _Huh? I reFUSE to go by that name._**

 _Haha. What would you prefer?_

 ** _Plagg._**

 _Pfffft… Lame._

 ** _I will have you know that this very name strikes fear in thousands._**

 _Oh yes, thousands upon thousands._

 ** _It is the name of the Kwami of Destruction! Fear me!_**

 _Destruction of cheese. I think cheese wheels fear you most, honestly._

 ** _As well they should._**

 _OH! I have a new name for you!_

 ** _…_**

 _CAPTAIN CAMEMBERT!_

Before Plagg could mentally respond, the bag he and Tikki had been telepathically conversing in was sudden wrenched open and a pair of wide, bluebell eyes stared down at the two complementing Kwamis.

 ** _Oh. Is class over already?_**

"Tikki!" Marinette whispered frantically. " _Wha-_ _ **Who**_ _is th-that!?_ "

Tikki was pretty sure Marinette already knew the answer to that question. How Tikki was supposed to explain _why_ Chat Noir's Kwami was hanging out in Marinette's school bag with her _during_ school hours, that would be harder to explain.

 _Whoops_.

 ** _Guess the cat's out of the bag…heh heh heh!_**

Tikki slapped Plagg. Hard. Plagg only snickered harder.

Meanwhile, a very distracted Adrien dug around in his own school bag, whispering into it loud enough to gain some stares from Nino….

And Marinette.

Double whoops.

When the class had emptied, Adrien was still digging around his bag and checking under the desk.

" _IthinkIhavesomethingofyours!_ " Marinette squeaked, almost inaudibly.

Adrien jumped at the sound. He hadn't realized anyone else was in here. When he turned and saw Marinette, flaming red in the face and eyes shut tight, he cocked his head to the side.

"Huh?"

"I-I-I-I h-have s-s-some-your things o-o-of!"

Adrien cocked his head to the other side.

"I HAVE SOMETHING OF YOURS!"

Adrien jumped and yelped when Marinette shouted. She simultaneously shoving her book bag under his nose and Adrien almost stumbled backward. Nervously, Adrien peered inside the bag…and blanched. He heartily concurred with the bluenette's assumption.

"Heh. Yes. Yes, you do…M'Lady."

All the blood finally reached Marinette's face and she promptly passed out. Thanks to Adrien's cat-like reflexes, he shot his arms out and caught…the bag.

Marinette went down face-first into the desk.

Adrien, Tikki, and even Plagg, winced.

"Whoops…."

(( Short and sweet tonight, folks. Thanks for reading! (X ))

((DeviantArt: callmeakumatized))


	15. Sick Day

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 23

Prompt: Sick Day

(( No, I know that this is late! But I've had it written, and I will not miss a day now that I'm in so deep! (except for Sundays…I don't write on Sundays. o.- ) ))

(( Ok, I posted this for Miraculous Fluff Month, since it really was inspired by that prompt, but I'm in this too deep for me to not let it be on its own too. Hehe. ))

 **Taking a Sick Say…or Ten**

Marinette should have seen this coming. After the Akuma fight in the downpour the day before, and Tikki already seeming a bit…despondent, a pale and worn out Tikki shivering in her hands the next morning really shouldn't have surprised her. They'd fought in the rain before and usually her little Kwami was fine, but the rain yesterday was harsh and cold. It reminded her of the nightmare of trying to fight Princess Fragrance; not only was she terrified for poor Tikki's sake, but trying to be Ladybug without being able to actually _be_ Ladybug was _awful_.

So Marinette wasted no time this go around. Forgoing breakfast so she would have the time before school, she raced out the bakery door toward the healer's house.

A quick run later and Marinette stood in front of the door, waiting. The first four times she had knocked had proved fruitless, and Marinette was trying to not panic.

"It's okay, Marinette," Tikki murmured from the open purse at Marinette's hip. The wise Kwami smiled. "We'll try again later. You need to get to school.

"Are you sure, Tikki? Maybe I'm just not knocking hard enough–"

At this, Tikki giggled.

"Marinette, if you had pounded on that door any harder, it would have broken down!"

Marinette grinned sheepishly. As Tikki tucked back into the purse, Marinette clasped it shut before turning quickly around and–

" _OOF!_ " two voices yelped.

Marinette backed away from whatever – whoever – she had just collided with, instantly embarrassed.

"Oh, I am so sorry! I should've been wat–"

"Marinette?"

Words completely died in Marinette's throat, their strangled death cries echoing out of the suddenly dry chasm of her mouth. She watched as Adrien flicked his eyes from her to the door she had just walked away from. One hand was behind his back.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

If Marinette could have allowed sane thought, she would have supposed that was a fair question.

"H-H-Healer," she pointed to behind her.

"Oh! Ha, ah heh hah har…" Adrien swallowed. "Me too!"

Marinette took a deep breath and swallowed hard.

"H-He's not here. I think."

"Oh…." Adrien looked markedly disappointed.

"I-I mean, you can try, but I've been knocking for the last 10 minutes."

This elicited a direct stare from the blond model and Marinette felt herself melt under his abrupt and scrutinizing stare. As fast as the look came, though, it passed. Adrien sighed.

"Well, there's no point in waiting around here anymore then, huh?" he said, shrugging, a small smile pulling at the edges of his lips.

 _How did this happen?_ Marinette wondered for the 37th time in the last 5 minutes.

"Hummersstyguglerp," was all she could reply, looking down and kicking the ground nervously.

Adrien chuckled.

"Well…uh, should we walk to school then?"

"Y-Yeah, okay."

Adrien smiled again and backed up a bit, gesturing to allow Marinette out of the doorway area first.

Marinette found it endearing, of course, but almost shook her head at how predictable his actions were.

 _Always the gentleman._

As the teens walked away from the healer's house, four eyes – two normal and two tiny – watched them from a window, hidden by a shade. They shared a knowing glance, eyes twinkling.

qpqpqpqpqp

Marinette couldn't believe her luck when, _again_ , the healer remained elusive. She was using her lunch break to be here and was starting to get desperate for time. She had even peeked in through as many windows as she could get to (she huffed when she realized she wouldn't be able to transform so she could peek in through _all_ the windows) before toying with the idea of trying to manhandle the door open…or just kick it in…or….

She was jolted from her musings when a familiar shuffle of feet skidded to a halt behind her.

 _Chat?_

Marinette whipped around and felt her cheeks flush in surprise when, _AGAIN_ , Adrien Agreste stood before her. He was panting slightly, looking completely jarred from his usual calm composure, and seemed to only be able to mimic her blank stare. Marinette gulped.

" _Still?_ " Adrien almost whined. He huffed when Marinette nodded and he let his hands drop down to his side from their questioning, outstretched pose. Marinette narrowed her eyes and cocked her head slightly. Something about the whole lack of composure he was carrying was almost…familiar.

As the two teens slowly meandered their way back to the school, a terrible silence threatening to last the whole time as it had the first time, Marinette, bolstered by her recollections of a cat-boy who would laugh at her antics – or lack thereof – tried at some type of conversation.

"S-So…"

Well, she tried.

"So," Adrien replied.

Marinette pooched her lips out in consternation.

 _I AM LADYBUG!_ she shouted to herself!

 _I AM LADYBUG! I AM LADYBUG, I AM LADYBUG –_

"I AM LA–!" she shouted before smacking herself in the face. Marinette cursed herself and peeked up at Adrien's somewhat startled, somewhat amused look. "I am _lAtely_ worried about my c-cat!"

Wow. You go, Marinette.

"Th-That's why I have been trying to get to that healer so bad."

"Really?" Adrien asked, sincerely questioning. "I didn't know you had a cat."

"She just appeared one day. I don't really know _how_ she got there, but I've been taking care of her ever since." Marinette was slightly lost in thought at this. She smiled to herself. "Well, and she's helped me a lot too."

When Marinette looked up to Adrien, the sweet smile on his face made her blush again, but she kept the eye contact.

"What about you?"

"Heh, well…" Adrien suddenly looked nervous. "Would you believe that it's actually the same reason? Except my cat's not eating…which is really, _really, REALLY_ –" he yelped suddenly and smacked his shirt. "Eh, s-sorry. Itchy tag? Eh hem. It's really weird for him to skip any meal. I'm worried about him."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Adrien. I hope he gets better soon."

He smiled. "Yours too."

They had arrived at the school steps and stopped for a moment before going inside.

"So…" Adrien started.

"So," Marinette giggled, echoing their earlier interaction. They both laughed lightly at this.

"Do you want to come with me to try again after school?"

Marinette tried to keep still, willing her vibrating frame to not betray her. She didn't trust her mouth, so she tried for what she _hoped_ was something like a sweet smile, and nodded.

qpqpqpqpqp

Day two of the same events came and went. Adrien and Marinette were walking back from the healer's house again during their lunch break. Adrien was animatedly talking about one of his favorite comic books. When he had learned Marinette liked the artsy side of graphic novels and occasionally picked up a few for reference pieces but never read the stories, Adrien had brought a stack of his favorites from home and dropped them in her bag that morning. Now, though, he was telling her which one she should start with and why, and the basis of the story without giving anything – or, at the very least, _everything_ – away. Marinette, though she wore a continuous blush from the attention, couldn't help but giggle at his enthusiasm.

"So, what's her name again?"

"Her real name or her superhero name?"

Marinette laughed. "Real name."

"Usagi, and her superhero name is –"

"Sailor Moon, I do remember that. And she uses…what kind of magic?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I gave you enough spoilers that you could pass off reading it without even opening a page."

Marinette grunted theatrically. "UGH! You caught on to my plan!"

Adrien shoved her shoulder, a little rougher than he meant to. Maybe.

Marinette retaliated, forgetting who her alter-ego was. Adrien almost stumbled over. Marinette grabbed onto his hand to keep him upright.

"Geez, Mari!" Adrien laughed, steadying himself. Marinette blushed anew – first at what she had done, including touching his hand, and second at the sound of her nickname coming from _him_. "I would not have thought that of you."

"Psh," she scoffed before she could stop herself. "That was _nothing_."

Adrien quirked a brow.

With quite a sound _shove_ , Marinette was stumbling to the side, skidding on one foot for a good six feet, arms flailing wildly. Adrien looked completely unashamed of himself.

Marinette smirked. She maybe not be able to handle a crush, but she was always ready to conquer a challenge.

qpqpqpqpqp

Alya and Nino were waiting for their friends to show up. They would have done better to have waited in the classroom. Well, _Nino_ would have.

Without warning, Adrien came barreling up the stairs, a manic grin on his face. And without even a wave, he pulled Nino roughly by the sleeve, causing him to stumble to the side as Adrien continued on his path inside the school.

"What–?" was all Nino could get out before Marinette crashed into him. Instead of tripping over him, though, she deftly used his toppling frame to vault herself up, over, and further into the school.

"NO CIVILIANS, CHEATER!" she shouted as she retreated from her friends.

"COLLATERAL DAMAGE!" they heard Adrien shout from inside the school. "NOT RESPONSIBLE!"

Alya reached down to help Nino up, shock etched in her features.

" _GADS,_ what the heck just _happened!?_ " Alya wondered.

"I dunno, but I'm gonna kill them _both_."

qpqpqpqpqp

Marinette started bringing breakfast by day four. As they rounded the corner of the bakery on their way back, Adrien caught a waft of the sweet-smelling scents coming from within and triumphantly popped another huge bite of chocolate croissant in his mouth. Marinette, he noted, stared at the monogram on the bakery door.

"You designed that, right?" Adrien muttered through a mouthful of bready goodness.

"Mm…" she mumbled in reply.

Several mornings, afternoons, and evenings in a row with Marinette told him that she had just lost herself in a new idea. Figuring she wouldn't be talking to him for a while, he shoved the whole reset of the pastry into his mouth, sighing contently.

He could definitely get used to this.

Mouth too full to effectively lick his figures, Adrien held his hands aloft by his face, waiting until the yumminess subsided into his stomach. A sudden snort of laughter brought his attention downward into a glittering pair of bright blue eyes.

"Wha?" he wondered aloud.

Marinette lost it. She put a hand on his arm to keep her upright from laughing too hard. Adrien grinned (well, tried to…his cheeks _were_ considerably full). He took some of the chocolate from his waiting fingers and smeared a bit on his face before lowering his head to be in her line of sight.

"Mawri, do I haff sumfin on muh fathe?"

She chanced a glance up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. What she saw left her entirely breathless in mirth. Her legs gave out and she wholly collapsed on the ground.

"You…look…ridiculous!" she got out through huge gulps of air. After a few intense minutes of roaring, side-splitting laughter, Marinette finally pulled herself up to the side of the bakery, gasping for air. Adrien sat down next to her, grinning to himself in a self-satisfied way, and finished chewing his croissant. When he turned to look at her, she was waiting for him.

"Hey!" he protested as a giggling Marinette pulled her phone down from his face and then turned it around so Adrien could see his masterpiece. He really did look ridiculous. The sight sent the two of them into renewed titters. Adrien pulled out his own phone and turned it to them before slouching into the side of Marinette. He felt her tense until his touch, something he was getting used to, but she didn't move away. Instead, she pulled a silly duck-lipped face. Adrien laughed before turning to her. The camera went off again. Bah, he must have hit the rapid capture feature again. Oh well. He reached around and pulled Marinette slower to him. She squealed, but Adrien didn't care.

The pictures looked perfect.

The warning bell sounded and Adrien, phone still out and taking pictures, turned his head to the sound.

"Shoot!"

"What?"

"The bell!"

"Oh snap!"

The two got up and Adrien grabbed onto Marinette's hand and pulled her all the way to the classroom.

qpqpqpqpqp

When Adrien was alone at the lockers getting ready to head out again with Marinette to try to get to that confounded healer, he started flicking through the 30 pictures his phone had taken of him and Marinette by the bakery. Most of them were pretty silly…but when he flicked onto a certain one, he felt his face start to burn. It must have been the first picture he didn't _know_ his phone was taking. Marinette was giggling, eyes closed. She was cute. But that's not what had drawn his attention. Next to her was a blond-hair guy staring at her with straight-up adoration. _He_ had caught _himself_ gazing at Marinette.

Adrien closed his locker, clearing his throat to no one for no reason and thought fleetingly of just forgoing the walk with Marinette today….

Until he skimmed through the last few pictures.

It must have been when the bell had rung. And Adrien had looked away.

And Marinette….

Marinette looked right at _him_. And the look in _her_ eyes….

Was the same as the one he saw in his own.

Adrien hung his head, suddenly overheated.

"Hey, Adrien! Are you ready?"

Adrien wasn't sure how to respond to that question.

But he knew what the new background to his phone screen was going to be.

qpqpqpqpqp

"So, you want to be a designer, right?"

The two were eating ice cream that evening, after their walk. Adrien hadn't been ready to let her go yet, and he didn't have anything that evening, so he insisted on going to this specific ice cream shop. You know, the one that was three blocks farther away from her house than the five others they passed to get there.

"Mmhm," she responded, trying to lick off a stay blop of ice cream off her nose before giving up and wiping it away with the back of her hand.

 _CUTE_.

"But everyone knows that by now," she waved the question away. "What about you?"

"Me? Me what?"

Marinette laughed. "What do you want to, you know, _do_? What's your dream?"

Adrien blinked. Dream? Was he allowed that?

"I…I don't know?"

"You don't want to go into fashion design too? Like, follow in your father's footsteps?"

" _No_."

Marinette stopped mid-lick and stared up at him and his harsh tone.

"Er, sorry." Adrien sighed, trying to find a way to word what he wanted to say. "It's not that I don't _like_ fashion or whatever…I practically _live_ it. Heh…" he breathed out a short laugh. "I _do_ live it. But, uh…I don't really want to be…want to become my f-father."

He felt guilt even at saying this, though it was absolutely true. For as much as he loved his father for being his father, he _hated_ seeing how Father worked over his staff, the models (including him), and the designers under him. "Niceness" was not something Gabriel Agreste was known for.

Adrien scowled, ice cream forgotten.

A hand on his arm stopped Adrien mid-step and he flicked his gaze to Marinette. A double-take didn't take away the fire he had spied the first time. The look of determination on her face was so achingly familiar, he found him staring into the blue, ready to listen to whatever this girl had to say.

"Adrien," she started in a simultaneously uncharacteristically strong tone that was so _very her_. "I'm not even going to pretend to know what's going on between you or your dad, and I won't ever ask or pester you about it." She took a deep breath. "But you should know that you are a _good_ person, OK? And I can't see that _ever_ changing."

Adrien could only stare at her, lips pursed, and blinking hard to keep back the emotion fighting there.

After a moment, Adrien found something of a shaky voice.

"Th-Thanks, Marinette."

Her soft smile felt the same as when the Miraculous Cure swept through Paris: Adrien felt renewed and filled with fluttering.

"You're welcome."

qpqpqpqpqp

"So…" Adrien hurried up beside Marinette that evening. She was waiting by the back door of the bakery and smiled when she saw him. Adrien's inner voice stammered a little and his body's mechanic started banging his head against the metaphorical wall. Adrien was thankful when she held out a pastry. He gladly grabbed it from her hand thankful for the distraction. Then, hoping to seem undeterred during the brief interlude, continued with what he was about to ask her.

"Do you like anyone?"

He could tell Marinette reeled back for a moment at the question and smirked despite himself.

"Like I would tell you," she muttered.

"I'm guessing he doesn't know, then?"

Marinette blushed. "Why would you say that?"

It was Adrien's turn to look surprised at her words. "'Cause I can't imagine someone saying 'No' to you?"

Marinette looked up to Adrien and he felt the heat on his cheeks again. So he did what was best and shoved the whole pastry slowly into his mouth. It worked: Marinette started to laugh before punching him in the arm.

"Thanks for the confidence, but I don't think it's going to happen."

"Whuteffer! Why noh?"

"Um, first of all, that is so gross!" she giggled at his full mouth. "But I'm pretty sure I quite soundly 'friend-zoned' myself." Marinette sighed at this and Adrien was both relief and sorry for her. He swallowed hard, and it was because of the oversized bite of pastry. Not nerves. Really.

"You should drop him a line."

Marinette looked confused. "What…like poetry?"

Adrien laughed. "No! No, no, no, like, a pick-up line."

This time Marinette laughed heartily. Like, a long time. Long enough Adrien started to get annoyed.

"Yeah, what a hilarious suggestion," he deadpanned.

"No, sorry, I just know someone who would agree with you, but I don't think I could do it."

"Seriously! You should try it out on him. I really don't think he'd reject _you_ , Mari."

Marinette was a red mess. She sighed.

"Hey, Adrien?"

Adrien frowned slightly at the sudden change of topic. Or so he thought.

"Yeah?"

"Can I tie your shoes for you?"

"I-what?"

"'Cause I don't want you falling for anyone else."

Adrien blinked.

"A-Are you _feline_ alright?"

Marinette, who had been looking markedly shyer than normal, abruptly scowled before rolling her eyes.

Adrien balked at the expression.

When she stared up at him again, the fierceness in the blue eyes, the red surrounded them from the heat in her cheeks matching His Lady's colors, the dark hair…in pigtails…with red ribbons….

Ah, crud.

Yeah, sure, "yay!", but…crud.

It's her.

She's her.

Adrien gulped, palms suddenly feeling sweaty.

And he had been encouraging her to drop a line to the dude she liked…and she…oh.

She did.

To…him.

Somehow they had made it to the back door of the bakery. Marinette kept glancing up at him, and Adrien was sure he looked like a red, sweaty mess. He held the door open for her as he had been doing for the past week. Instead of leaving her there, though, he gulped as he followed her up to where he actual front door was.

Were they going to have a doorway scene? Would she want that? Why did he follow her? She was smiling. He was broken. Wasn't there a movie about what to do about this? Something about…90/10?

Had that ended badly?

Marinette stopped at her door and turned to face him, taking out her keys and…and…fiddling with them.

"I, uh, had a g-great time tonight, Adrien."

Adrien stuck his hands deep in his pockets. "Yu _p_ ," he dumbly answered, popping the 'p'.

He saw Marinette smile even though her eyes were on the ground. When she looked at him again, he didn't care anymore.

Forget 90/10.

He was going for the whole 100%.

Even if he had no idea what he was doing.

Grabbing her hands, he pulled her toward him slowly, while taking a step forward to her. She backed up a bit, almost to the door, but didn't pull away. Adrien took another step toward her, pushing her hair back for an excuse to put his hand behind her head and pull her face up toward him more. His other hand let go and he leaned his arm on the wall behind her, closing to the distance between them. When he lowered his face toward hers, he hesitated for only a moment.

Oh, gosh, what if she didn't want this? What if he was coming on too stro– _ermmahgosh._

So that's what 90/10 means.

She had grabbed onto his face, so tenderly, and pushed herself up the rest of the way to him, meeting his lips with hers. He didn't need help with the next part. He figured he could take care of it from here.

It was soft, tender, but gave him butterflies through his whole body.

After a few tentative touches, he deepened it for only a moment before pulling back.

"Chat…" he heard her whisper. He opened her eyes and saw her gazing into his, that ferocity dancing behind the blue again.

"M'lady."

Her eyes widened for only a moment while she bit her lip. Then they were kissing again, and Adrien wove his hand farther into her hair as she pulled on his neck a little harder. It was only for a minute, but it was enough. And when they broke apart, they both started laughing lightly.

"GALL FINALLY." A new voice practically shrieked into the air.

"SHHH PLAGG WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!"

"MY PROBLEM IS A SERIOUS LACK OF CHEESE FOR THE LAST WEEK."  
"YOU–"

"AND DON'T EVEN TELL ME YOU LIKED DIPPING YOURSELF IN FLOUR EVERY DAY TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK PALE."

"I WASN'T!"

"GOOD!"

" _GOOD!_ "

Adrien and Marinette had stepped back from each other and the two arguing blobs now floating in front of them. Adrien was the first to recover. He cleared his throat, crossing his arms.

"What."

"Uh…" the little fairies spoke hesitantly. "Tikki", Ladybug's – Marinette's – Kwami shrugged then.

"The great guardian was tired of you two dancing around each other."

As if that explained everything.

"So you faked being sick…" Marinette muttered. "And knew the healer would never be there…and we'd… _keep trying to help you_." Now she looked kinda…ticked. Out of habit, Adrien winced.

Tikki, however, only smiled.

"Well, you finally got that kiss from Adrien – and _Chat_ – that you've always wanted Marinette! I think it all turned out right."

Adrien's heart fluttered. He could care less about the Kwamis' underhanded tactics. The means justified the ends. Especially now that he knew that she really had wanted this. If Tikki's words hadn't been reliable, the red brushing across her cheeks and down her neck was a dead giveaway.

"You like me that much, Bugaboo?" he smirked, and the sassy grin only widened at Marinette's obviously affected posture. "Or…really, maybe I should call you Buganette?"

Instead of giving him a retort, which he completely expected, she looked instead to Tikki, feigning disinterestedness.

"Actually, Tikki," she spoke sweetly. "It looks like I _have_ already kissed _Adrien_. You remember…before all of this." Marinette's eyes flicked up to his momentarily, now wearing Adrien's stolen smirk. Tikki giggled.

"That's right! I had forgotten about that!"

Marinette gave Adrien an over-the-shoulder snigger as she turned to put her key into the door to go in.

"Wait…" Adrien felt all of his cheekiness flee. "You're serious?"

Marinette giggled, having slipped inside already.

"Wait!"

"Goodnight, Chaton."

qpqpqpqpqp

Walking home, Adrien pulled out his phone when he felt it buzz. Looking at who it was from, he smiled widely.

"Ugh, this is going to be even worse than when Ladybug was just a mystery girl."

Adrien ignored Plagg and opened the messages coming in from "Buginette" (yes, he had already changed her name in his phone).

 _-Dear mon minou, I feel quite cold up here on the Eiffel Tower and so I brought some hot chocolate._

 _-I figured our naughty Kwamis owed us a night out._

 _-And if you ever want to hear the story of how you almost killed me but I saved your sorry leather-clad skin with a kiss, then I suggest you come join me._

 _-'Cause it's now or never._

 _-Here, Kitty, Kitty…._

Adrien didn't see the last few messages though.

Chat Noir raced along the rooftops of Paris, the lit-up Eiffel Tower in his sights.

His Lady was waiting for him.

And he didn't want to just be _told_ a story….

He was hoping for more of a reenactment.

 _Wait…I tried to_ KILL _her!?_

 _Fin!_

(( So..erm…this started off as a Miraculous Fluff Month Prompt. And ended 4K words later. So I upgraded it to its own story. n.n ))

(( Guys, if you like this, could you leave a review? Please? Is that sad to ask? Hardy Har. Let me know if this crap is any good...Heh heh. -.o ))

(( Really, though, THANK YOU FOR READING. Y'all are awesome. I do this for you. No lie. ))

(( AND THAT WAS A 'HITCH' REFERENCE IF YOU WERE WONDERING. THE 90/10. XD ))

(( And I didn't have time to edit this, again, so sorry if there are a ton of mistakes! ))


	16. Wrong Number

Miraculous Fluff Month 2016 – Aug 24

Prompt: Wrong Number

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Although Alya Cessaire could usually be considered the best of friends, Marinette was having a hard time imagining the avid blogger as anything closely relating to that descriptor. In Alya's defense, Marinette supposed she should have expected something for April Fool's, but this was a little _beyond_ ridiculous.

Marinette scrolled through her list of contacts, her frown deepening with every new "pet name" she spotted.

Alya had thought it would be _hilarious_ to switch all of the names in Marinette's phone to various – and downright _silly_ – terms of endearment. Marinette did not share her view. Now instead of normal names like "Dad", "Mom", or "Nino", they all showed up as "Honey Buns", "Morning Breath" (how is that one even nice? Oh, maybe it's Chloe), and "Sugar Cake". However, this was only the first problem. The second problem was that everyone in the class seemed to be in on the joke. So when Marinette sendt out a mass text to everyone explaining what happened and asking _so nicely_ for their real names so she could fix it, she only received more pet names in replay. Only one person on her contact list responded without another cutesy name: Chat Noir (AKA, "Kitten Kisses"). The irony of this was not lost on Marinette, but she was thankful that Chat's obnoxiousness did not extend to this particular torture that was her current life.

Now, though she still received intolerable messages from people like "Bunny Fufu" and "Sweetikins Cookiecrumbs" (she was 80% sure this was actually her Papa, the traitor), she was able to carry on through the day by seeking solace through the normalcy of Chat's messages.

Again, the irony of this thought and this entire situation was not lost on her.

 ** _-Hey Bug! How's the "situation"?_**

 _-UGH. I just got a message from "My Bae" complaining on how I don't remember his/her real name…._

 ** _-Haha! Okay, I shouldn't laugh, but it's kinda funny._**

 _-Maybe if it was someone else. Or over now. Or stopping soon. None of those are true, tho._

 _-Whose side are you on, anyway!?_

 ** _-Yours, always. I swear it._**

 ** _-Although now I'm wondering if I should be wondering who "My Bae" is!?_**

Marinette giggled and shook her head, smiling. She was still messaging Chat as she walked into the classroom, pointedly ignoring everyone's jeers and finger guns – _especially_ Alya's.

She didn't even look up at Adrien.

If she had, she would have seen him with a smile on his face, quickly thumbing a message on his phone.

qpqpqpqpqp

When Ladybug had finally – _FINALLY_ – given Chat Noir her phone number, he thought that this could be the first step to them getting closer together. So when Adrien saw his alter-ego's name in Marinette's contact list, he felt equal parts elated that his wish was actually coming true, and sheer terror that Ladybug – Marinette – was going to kill him.

When Marinette had gone to the restroom (an actually restroom break, Adrien now realized, not an Akuma-excuse one), Alya had plopped down in between Adrien and Nino, a phone in her hand. Marinette's phone.

"I saw this great prank through a link on the school blog the other day and I knew Marinette would be the perfect choice for this!" Alya had said, laughing evilly. She was right, of course; when Adrien heard the details of the trick, he couldn't agree more that Alya couldn't have picked a better candidate to fluster with this. He was eager, _then_ , to join in the teenage frivolity. Slowly the rest of class was coming around, and they all took turns putting in their own awful names. Thankful, Adrien was one of the first.

"Huh…I swear she had your info in here, Adrien!" Alya said, brows furrowed. "I mean, I gave her your number ages ago…."

But Adrien had already seen it. He snatched the phone from Alya.

"I-I'll find it!" he squeaked out, feeling his face flush. "J-Just tell me what I'm supposed to replace it with."

Alya only chuckled, giving an Adrien a _too_ -knowing glance. "No, Sunshine Child, you pick it yourself."

Though he was nervous beyond nervous, there was no way to get around this now. He internally shrugged…and then a decidedly Cheshire grin pulled his smile up to his eyes. He tried not to laugh.

Alya, though, upon receiving Marinette's phone back, and Nino looking over her arm, laughed heartily at his new name.

"Kitten Kisses."

Adrien knew why Marinette didn't have Adrien's contact information: it had been written over when Chat's name was added to the phone. There was an odd ego-boost Adrien got from replacing himself with himself.

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The prank went on for days, and Marinette was just about done with _everyone_.

Everyone except Chat, to whom she clung onto like a lifeline.

Walking through the halls and up to the classroom, Marinette stuck up her nose at everyone that tried to say hello. Considering that _none_ of her classmates had given her their real numbers, they were _all_ in the proverbial dog house. Marinette specifically ignored Alya, which didn't matter too much. Alya was utterly unaffected, and she continued in her unrelenting teasing toward her "best friend".

qpqpqpqpqp

"Oh, come on, Mari!" Alya laughed as she followed Marinette into the classroom. "Just tell me who you've been chatting with nonstop!"

Adrien snorted loudly.

 _Heh heh, "chatting"…hahaha_.

Marinette turned her glaring eyes onto him and Adrien winced out of habit when she walked by.

" _You_ don't know him," Marinette answered, a triumphant look on her face.

Alya, for the first time that week, stopped in her teasing.

" _HIM!?_ " Alya spat out, the surprise etched into every feature of her face. "There's a _HIM_ I don't know about!?"

"Yup."

Adrien couldn't help but turn around more to see Marinette's face. It was exactly as he had pictured it: completely smug. The arms crossed over chest, phone still in her hand, made the scene picturesque.

"Bu-Bu-Bu–" Alya stammered, nonplussed. "But – who – _just tell me what his messaging name is!_ "

Marinette seemed to speak without thinking. After she pushed out the name, she blanched and her features when lax. Adrien grimaced, only daring to peek at the two of them through one open eye.

Alya looked like she had just single-handedly won a football tournament.

" _Kitten Kisses!?_ " Alya laughed out loud. Nino even chuckled. "Marinette, _"Kitten Kisses_ " is _Adrien_."

Marinette's eyes shot forward. For as fast as she had completely paled at her confession earlier, her cheeks flushed, morphing from rosy to red in a moment. She didn't even seem to notice Adrien had his phone out. In a moment, he sent the text.

It was a picture of a shyly grinning Adrien at his desk with a completely shocked Marinette in the background.

The message that went with it was just as simple.

 ** _-Guess the "Chat" is out of the bag. Heh heh. ;)_**

Adrien turned in his seat again. Marinette was livid. The fierceness in her eyes when she flicked them to Adrien from her phone was the only warning he had before his own phone was ripped from his hand. Before he could even protest, Marinette chucked the phone, _hard_ , right into his face.

A moment later, Adrien rubbing his nose as unbidden moisture tickled his eyes at the sheer force of impact, a text came from his discarded phone. Adrien flicked a glance, glowering, at Marinette before reaching for his phone to check her message.

Now, Adrien, being a model, had seen hundreds of pictures of himself.

And not all the shoots went well.

Like sneezing in a feather-topped derby hat.

But nothing – _nothing_ – compared to this.

Adrien stared at the picture of himself, his own phone in the process of smashing into a contorted face, his arms flailing uselessly around him.

The message that name with the picture was equally as horrifying.

 _-NO MIRACULOUS CURE FOR YOU._

 _-EVER._

Though the rest of the class hadn't seen the whole message, they were still roaring from what had played out. After all, only Adrien really knew what Marinette was capable of. At this thought, he turned a red-nosed, cheeky smile up to her, starting to laugh himself.

Marinette pressed her tongue on the inside of her cheek to try to keep her frown on her face. Adrien wiggled his eyebrows and was satisfied when he saw the corners of her mouth start to turn upwards.

It quite possible was the happiest moment of his life.

 _Fin!_

 **BONUS!**

 ** _-It really does hurt still Bugaboo._**

Adrien sent a picture of his still-red nose to prove his point.

There was no sympathy from Kwami, nor, it appeared, from his Lady.

 _-Pfft. You're lucky it wasn't worse._

 ** _-Well, since there's no Miraculous Cure for me anymore…maybe YOU could come kiss it better? ;)_**

There was no immediate response, but Adrien didn't care. Not really. He chuckled as he put the ice pack back on his nose. When he closed the message box with LB, he burst out laughing again at his phone background. The candid shot of Marinette putting all the pieces together was going to be his favorite for the rest of time.

As Adrien spun around in his computer chair to get back on the Ladyblog – just out of habit now that he knew Ladybug's identity – there was a sudden commotion at his open window. Adrien watched in horror and delight as Marinette – Ladybug – alighted deftly into his room. When she didn't even stop, and, instead, began a brisk walk toward him, Adrien tried to get out of his chair. His scrambling only made him fall over, however, the ice pack flying out of his hand.

Ladybug, still hot in her pursuit (giggle), bent over him without missing a beat and peppered his surely-red face with kisses.

And that's how Adrien Agreste died.

Smiling slyly down at him, Ladybug stood up. And she was gone as fast as she had come. Plagg was snickering uncontrollably. Adrien could only stare blankly to his ceiling, laying in his upturned office chair.

His phone buzzed five minutes later. Zombie that he now was, Adrien, still wide-eyed, pulled his phone out and checked the message…and scowled, shaking his head.

Ladybug had snapped her own candid photo: kissing an extremely shocked Adrien. While winking.

When the next text message came in though, Adrien was sent reeling.

 _-Well, honestly, it's not the first time I saved you with a healing kiss…. ;)_

 _WHAT._

"PLAGG!"

 _Fin!_

(( Thanks so, so much for your favorites and your follows and especially your reviews! I seriously LOVE hearing from you guys! Y'all are great. Thank you for reading! ))

(( I'm slowly "cat"-ching up on these! ;P ))


	17. I got this for you, but

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 28

Prompt: I got this for you, but…

(( So, I was looking at the last few prompts we have coming up and…I'm going to combine them. So these next four chapters are going to be one story (maybe this will keep me away from writing 4K for one prompt…heh heh heh.) ))

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Ladybug jumped slightly when two heavy boots landed behind her. She looked up and back, grinning into Chat's face as he leaned over her, hands behind his back.

"Those were some _paw_ -some moves out there, Kitty," she giggled.

Chat chuckled. "I knew you'd notice someday." He inched his face closer to hers, his boyish grin causing bubbling laughter to pour out of her chest. Ladybug pushed his face away with her whole hand as she stood up. With a big sigh, she allowed a yawn to eke out, a stretch following. The view was beautiful in the sunset glow through the beams of the Eiffel Tower – how did they always end up here? While Ladybug had stood to gaze out at the City of Lights, Chat plopped himself heavily down on the beam next to her. The severity of his landing startled her a bit. When she looked down at him, his posture was slouched and his head was in his hands. To complete the look of…what? Annoyance? He huffed somewhat theatrically. Ladybug giggled again at his antics.

"Something on your mind, Chat?"

He didn't answer right away, didn't look at her. But a moment – and another disapproving sound – later, he held out a letter.

"Adrngreskmegiyois," he muttered, too quick and too low for Ladybug to understand.

"What was that?" she smiled as she reached out to grab the envelope.

Chat flicked his gaze up to her once more. Then he blew out a harsh breath.

"I got this thing for you, but –"

"That's _not_ what you said the first time."

"–I _don't_ want you to have it."

" _You_ got it for me?" Ladybug turned over the blank red envelope in her hands. The only thing scribbled on it was a reproduction of her own signature.

"I _brought_ it."

"Ok, now tell me what you told…me…the first…time…." Her voice trailed off as she pulled out the envelope's contents. It was an invitation. To a gala. Her next words were whispered.

"Who gave you this?"

Chat stretched out his neck muscles, rubbing that one spot on his right side that always seemed to bother him the most after an Akuma battle.

"Adrien Agreste."

Ladybug blanched. She could feel it, all the color drain from her face.

Then she punched Chat. Hard.

" _Don't you mess with me, cat-boy!_ "

"OW! Hey, what – ! I am _not messing_ with you!"

As fast as the color had drained from her face, it was back…and her cheeks were _hot_. She fanned them with the envelope, starting to pace around. Chat scoffed, but Ladybug paid him no attention. Instead she started muttering – no, having a _conversation_ with herself. She intermittingly wrung her hands through this, though she took great care to not wrinkle the invitation or envelope in her hand.

After enduring this for one minute too long, Chat rolled his eyes and stood. He put a hand on either side of her, gripping her arms tightly.

"Ladybug, stop," he said, though she didn't seem to hear him. "Ladybug…Ladybug! _STOP!_ "

"What?" she said innocently, apparently unaware of what she had just been doing. Chat smirked in spite of himself.

"What's wrong?" He bit his lip. "Are-Aren't you going to accept?"

"Of course!" Ladybug almost shouted. Chat blushed at the sudden exuberance. Her whole face lit up, eyes sparkling. The sight took Chat off guard; he was completely unprepared for a flushed-cheeked Ladybug, a smiling Ladybug, an excited Ladybug.

"But…?"

He had to ask. Because he's _Chat_ , and he can always – _always_ – tell when something's off with his partner.

Ladybug wasn't sure how to say what she was feeling. This was possibly due to her not being _sure_ exactly what she was feeling.

"I…" Ladybug stared straight into Chat's eyes, looking for her answer there. He'd grown up in the years they had fought together. _Years_. But his eyes were always the same. Probably because of genetics, really. The familiarity, though, had always helped her. This time, looking into them, she felt lost.

She gulped.

"I can't dance."

 _To be continued!_

(( Thanks for reading! This didn't exactly go as planned. But I think I like it. n.n Leave a review if you have a moment; I love to hear from you! ))


	18. I Do

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 29

Prompt: I do

(( Shout out time: **booabug (allthisink)** on Ao3 wrote for LadyNoir July under the title "Parisian Nights". Chapter 12 has a sick tango sequence (and confession) and it killed me. My turn. (8 ))

(( And PAH! I forgot to mention that they are aged up. My bad! Like, 17/18, last year of Collége (High School equ.) ))

qpqpqpqpqp

Adrien had tried to invite Ladybug to the gala soon enough so she would have plenty of time to think about it. He wanted her to have enough time to change her mind if she said "no" the first time, and he would wait until the party was 110% over and done with before he would give up on her accepting his invitation. It was all he could do to pretend to both be affected _and_ unaffected when she had given her affirmation to the invite; _Chat_ wouldn't want her to go to a party and dance with anyone else but him, but he, as Adrien, was about to burst to the moon when she had uttered, "Of course!" Sure, it felt a little devious to invite her to something as Adrien and enjoy it as much as Chat would. It wasn't _his_ fault that she was only attracted to one side of him (the boring half, but that's alright…he'll take what he can get).

His luck was bordering on being _good_ for once. And then she said she couldn't dance…and he knew the scales had somehow tipped in his favor.

For the first time in his life, Adrien was _so happy_ his father insisted on giving him dance lessons.

(Although Chloé was his partner for all those years…but the ends apparently justified the means in this case.)

Now, radio playing music on the roof, and Ladybug in his arms ( _GULP_ ), a laugh broke through him again at the most obvious difference between dancing with Chloé and dancing with His Lady: Chloé _always_ let him lead, Ladybug hardly _ever_ did.

It was still two weeks until the big party. Ladybug had come to visit him that first night to accept his invitation ( _that_ was a stressful race home) and had visited here and there through the next two weeks (somehow she always seemed to know when he had a free evening). Two weeks down, two to go. They had gone through the basics of a few dances: Viennese waltz, salsa (they both decided on _Salsa Portoricaine_ here), a dabble in the basic "hold and sway", and now they were here. The tango.

Adrien – Chat now – had had his suspicions about Ladybug when they first started the dance lessons. First of all, she _accepted_ dance lessons from him. Second, she was _obviously lying_ about it.

She had told him that she couldn't dance; and, while he was always in the frame of mind to believe _everything_ she told him, something about this "confession" didn't seem quite right. His reservations had proved justified. While they moved through the first few dances _he_ would deem as easier, she had fudged her way through faking flubs over the moves that were textbook where someone _would_ mess up…but she nailed with precision _everything else_.

One mystery solved, but one was still unanswered….

Why had she lied about it in the first place?

(Not that he was complaining. Just sayin'.)

Now they were pulling apart for a minute, standing on top of the abandoned, albeit windy rooftop. Chat had been teaching Ladybug the eight basic steps of the Argentine tango. That he was _possibly_ going slower than what was necessary seemed to _bug_ Ladybug; she was growing increasingly impatient at the lack of progression with their dance. It was going _purr_ -fectly as he had planned.

Chat had been floppy, and she didn't like it, so she had started to lead again.

And now _he_ knew for sure that she _knew_ what she was doing.

The perfect execution of the step five _cradenza_ without him even _mentioning_ it told him just how much she must know. And he was eager now to figure out the full extent.

"You know," Chat purred slightly, stopping them and looking at her expression (currently: annoyed...and he shouldn't be enjoying as much as he was seeing that look as much as he was) before lowering his face to hers, "you really should let me lead."

Ladybug scowled slightly, poking out her lips. Chat heard her mutter under her breath.

"Maybe if you would just _take_ the lead, we wouldn't have this problem…."

That was all he was waiting for.

He smirked down at her when her gaze flicked to his for a moment. She quirked her brow.

The track switched on the CD, and Chat pulled her in close. This time, his grip was strong and sure, and he felt her posture adjust accordingly. They were too close together for him to really see her face, but he felt her head turn in his direction and took a sly pleasure in surprising her. His tail flicked behind him.

"Ready?" he whispered.

"Yes," she breathed back.

The sound of her tone slightly terrified him.

Chat stepped back and she immediately followed, matching him step for step. He went in a normal pace, letting them fine-tune into each other. He grinned when he felt her follow through with her "ladies cross". When she blew out a long sigh at the end of the first 8-count pattern, Chat knew they were both ready.

Slowly, he led her back again, this time moving into a drawn-out walk. He was deliberate and purposeful in the steps, but his breath quickened opposingly. And when he brought his feet together, Ladybug responded simultaneously with a long sweeping arc on the ground, tracing her toe around from behind her before bringing it back. Chat tried not to faint, not only at the sight, but at the feeling.

The next tango walk, Chat pulled her with him faster, matching beat for beat with the quick-paced song. After a moment, with a skid of his boot, he slid the toe under her foot and jerked it upward. She responded flawlessly, kicking out one foot straight behind her and then the other; Chat followed her movements by drawing her into a slight dip, pushing her top half away a bit while keeping a hold onto her waist. He allowed her to pull her head all the way back before snapping her up into a quick set of spins around and around, dipping her with every other turn. At the end of the third turn, Chat pulled her back from him slightly before stopping her right foot with the toe of his boot…and stood in awe as the miraculous Ladybug tipped her head back and then forward while extending her left foot out to brush on right leg. Chat had to concentrate hard now, seeing as his leg was suddenly on fire.

But she wasn't done.

Ladybug skimmed her toe almost lazily against her own calf before dragging her foot calculatingly back to his boot. With a final brush against the entire side of his foot, she swung her toe to the other side of his and stepped up, ready for his next step. At her nearness, he pulled her again into another set of rapid rotations. The momentum they built here he used to snap her out, letting go for a moment while she spun, catching her hand a moment later as she scraped the ground with her toe in another wide arc. A solid tug later brought her tight into him again. He walked her again, maintaining enough space to look down at her now upturned face, a fire in her eyes he had never seen before. He squeezed her hand subconsciously, the burning sensation in her stare giving him something like permission as well as confidence, and Chat twisted her, pushing her almost into a back step. But he was dying and impatient to see what else she could do.

Before Ladybug could move her other foot into the next part of the back step, Chat leaned back slightly, sliding his left boot to directly next to her own left, stopping her foot's progress entirely. In one fluid movement, eyes still locked on his, Ladybug slid her toe sideways and toward him as she brought up her leg to loop under his own outstretched leg. He bent into the motion as the inside of their knees gripped against each other, and Ladybug dipped back into the move, flaunting her obvious flexibility with a toe-touch to the back of her head. Chat snapped her back into their previous embrace. The song was coming to an end. Chat, not quite finished challenging Ladybug yet, dipped her ridiculously low, crouching down himself on one leg, the other stretched out behind him. He wanted to keep testing her limits, and he was instantly rewarded for his slight cheek on her behalf. One of her legs came out in a stretch to match his own, toe pointing forward. The other leg slid behind her and she landed on the ground in a full split. She only pulled her eyes away from his to dip her head back again; he held her as she bent low enough for her pigtails to brush the ground.

As the track skipped to the next one, he stood, heaving her up into him again. They were both panting…though Chat didn't think it was just from the exertion of dancing. There was mirth playing in her eyes now, her lips twitching as if to hold back a grin. Chat was both confused and elated with her willingness to let him not only explicitly lead but take some partner liberties...and not even _threaten_ to punch him for it. The thought that came to the forefront of his mind, though, was just _how much_ she was _showing off_. For the second time that night, he bent low to _chat_ with her.

"Call it a hunch, but I think you've done this before, M'Lady," Chat panted still, though a smile pulled at his lips. His tail flicked around again behind him, betraying his inner excitement despite his conscious efforts to remain apathetic. Ladybug giggled breathily.

"I might have," she responded, shrugging. A laugh floated in her voice.

"And would you like to do it again?"

Oh, he hoped she did.

Ladybug didn't hesitate in her reply this time.

"I do."

 _To be continued!_

(( Hopefully that made enough sense…. :D ))

(( Tango playlist:

Bitter:Sweet – Salty Air

Ingrid Michaelson – Warpath

Ingrid Michaelson – Parachute

One Republic – Love Runs Out ))


	19. Unmasked

(( Before we get started on this, did you read vol 2 of the new comic book series? BAH! WHAT!? ))

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 30

Prompt: Unmasked

The morning sun that had floated lazily in through the windows of the school had long since switched to the roasting rays of noonday. Marinette basked in the warmth as she walked out of the locker area into the main area of the school on her way back to class. She was crazy late, but it didn't matter; she was still riding on the high that may or may not have come from seeing Chat Noir so soon after last night's mini dance party. The Akuma, though difficult to catch (she was sure there was a bruise she was going to feel for the next week), didn't bother Marinette today. It was just more time she could spent watching the gleam that had appeared in Chat's eyes.

Well, had _intensified_ , maybe. The look had always been there…she had just actually started to _notice_ it.

Not that it mattered, right? In two days, she would be dancing with Adrien. And if he danced _half_ as well as Chat, the night would be _purr-_ fect. She giggled to herself at the pun.

Halfway up the stairs, Marinette asked herself the question that had been on her mind for the last few weeks: Why had she lied to Chat? She thought she knew the answer. Not quite ready to face her class now, Marinette leaned against the stair railing.

Marinette had been dancing since she was a small child. Her parents had hoped (after a few eye exams to conclude there were no problems there) that the dance lessons would help with her clumsiness. As Marinette grew older, it was obvious that the lessons were not working. Although her dancing was anything but poor, her everyday life saw no benefit from the exercise, so she was allowed to quit. It was a bittersweet feeling; dancing was fun, but awkward, and slightly embarrassing for Marinette…too much closeness with…people.

Two things changed for her in the last few years to change her perspective. The first was finding out that Adrien Agreste was forced to take lessons in every kind of social dance acceptable in society, and that his partner was _Chloe_.

The second was becoming Ladybug and suddenly being able to sneak out _way_ more effectively than before. What started as the sole fiery motivation to blow Chloe's dance "skills" out of the water if she ever had the chance turned into her favorite weekly getaway, a secret even beyond her _biggest_ secret, something just for her. Across Paris was a little dance hall, and Marinette, _as_ Marinette, frequented there.

And now Marinette was about to come face to face with the driving force behind her years of lessons and personal enjoyment: dancing with Adrien Agreste.

Unwittingly, Chat Noir popped into her head _again_ , and, despite herself, she grinned again, a warm fluttering burning through her chest and stinging all the way to the tips of her ears. The music played through her mind again, and, as Marinette finally reached the walkway toward her classroom at the top of the stairs, she closed her eyes. A smile still played on her lips and she leaned against the wall for a moment, losing herself in her own memories.

She was already late anyway, right?

Chat had really pushed her last night. He always did as her crime-fighting partner, and it was nice to have someone truly dare her to push her limits. And Marinette felt right in her assumption, from the tell-tale look on his face, that Chat had been far from disappointed in what she could do. She had never experience that exhilaration of sheer unpredictability from her partner, and she found a sound gratification anytime she was able to leave him speechless (for more reasons than one…haha).

(She could always do without the incessant puns and jokes:

"Hey, Ladybug! I went to a seafood disco the other day, but I pulled a _mussel_."

"Where do snowmen go to dance? _Snow_ balls!"

"Why don't dogs make good dancers? They have _two left feet_!"

"Why didn't the skeleton dance at the party? He had no _body_ to dance with!"

That's when she chucked him, laughing, off the roof top.)

Marinette, eyes still closed, felt the rhythm of that internal music rise and she pulled herself off the wall with a deep breath. She spun around once, smiling gleefully, then spun again, ending this second rotation with an outstretched leg, crouched low, toe scraping in a wide arc. She giggled again as the ghost of Chat holding her was almost tangible on her skin. She held her arms up as if he were there with her and walked herself into a backward step.

Really, she was Marinette, and she should _always_ have her eyes open. Because she didn't need any more hindrance to her basic _walking_ abilities.

If she had been thinking responsibly, she would have noticed the only other person lingering in the hallway minutes before the lunch bell was going to ring.

" _UGH!_ "

" _OOF!_ "

"OH!" Marinette gasped, eyes popping open. She started to spin around, laughing slightly, the embarrassment uncharacteristically lost on her. "Ah, I'm, ha! So sor-EEP."

 _OF COURSE IT WAS ADRIEN WHY WAS IT ALWAYS ADRIEN_.

Adrien stared at her with wide eyes. Marinette rapidly backtracked in her mind to replay all of the awkward things she had just done and hypothesized over how much he had actually _seen_. The decision was made, when she saw his eyes were still wide as saucers, that she needed to just bypass this whole moment and make her way to class.

"Alright, erm, Immagonnagonowbye!"

Before Marinette could pass by Adrien completely, though, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. Marinette _EEP_ 'd again and looked up into his face form her new position almost touching his ch-chest. His eyes were _still_ just _staring_ , but something like a smirk was on his face, dancing below reddened cheeks. Marinette felt like her face was on fire. _I am 17-years-old for goodness sake!_ she screamed internally at herself. _WHY, JUST WHY DO I ACT LIKE THIS!?_

As if to answer her question, Adrien cautiously pushed to into a…tango embrace.

Something between the sound of gurgling and drowning sounded in her brain.

 _Ah._ That's _why._

He must have seen _enough_ of her shenanigans earlier.

There was no music, and Adrien was completely silent, a sudden calculating look in his green almond eyes…but they seemed to be content dancing to the beat of their own thumping hearts.

 _Gall, what is happening right now!?_

Adrien's grip strengthened without warning and he pulled her with him. His leading was incredibly…familiar, and Marinette wanted to look up at him again…but he had pulled her so close she could only smell the scent of his cologne on his shirt and hear his breath catching slightly. And there was that strange gurgling sound bubbling through her head again. She was reeling, but determined; this was some kind of alternate universe, she was quite sure, but she was still conscious enough to nail this as only Ladybug could. As only _Marinette_ could.

So when he pulled, she followed. And when he spun her out, she pulled away and returned again. It was surprising how well she could read him, and that familiar feeling of familiarity was achingly…familiar. She gulped slightly when he whipped her out and brought her in again, but instead of returning in the smooth circle she was used to, he added an extra twist, catching both of her hands in his and tugging her back into him, her back against his chest. Marinette was really, _really_ glad she was turned away so Adrien didn't have to see the dead look on her face. Her arms were crossed in front of her and Adrien swayed in something of a box step with her for a moment before dipping her. It wasn't deep, due mostly to the position her arms were still in, but it was far enough that they could look at each other.

When it was Adrien's face, with Chat's hands, with Chat's moves, with Chat's eyes, and with Chat's _smirk_ , Marinette wasn't sure whether she wanted to faint or run away. Or hit him, though _that_ just might be a gut reaction.

The inner turmoil was too much. So her body decided to just shut down completely. And she only stared.

The bell rang right at the moment (of course…what, were they in a movie or something!?). Chat – _ADRIEN_ – whipped Marinette around and righted her, letting go of her hands before taking an overly theatrical bow.

"Thanks for the dance."

He had a look on his face that belied any innocence Marinette had always believed was laced in his very essence. Those cat-like eyes were full to the brim (and spilling over) with mischief. And secrets.

Marinette still hadn't recovered when the classes were spilling out into the hall. Adrien and Marinette were still just staring at each other, Marinette red-faced and numb, Adrien smirking, a hand in his pocket and hipped cocked out (curse him and his attractive, nonchalant model poses). Alya was the first to disturb her musings.

"Girl! You missed like, all of your classes this morning!" she shouted, shoving Marinette's backpack into her stomach with a little more vigor than was strictly necessary. "What the heck was so important that you…oh."

Marinette finally broke eye contact with Adrien to stare at what had made Alya so quiet suddenly. She traced the line from Alya's knowing, _leering_ look to herself and to Adrien. Oh. Heh. OH. NO.

"No, NO, Alya, it's not like that!" she almost screeched. "We – _I_ – was just –"

Alya could only laugh. And laugh. And. Laugh.

Marinette, annoyed, scowled and looked to Adrien for help. He, however, had had his attention taken away by Nino. As she watched him for a moment, he rolled his right shoulder, trying to loosen it, before rubbing behind it with his left hand.

Chat was always sore there after an Akuma fight.

"Mari, _what happened_?" Alya whispered excitedly in Marinette's ear.

"He-He noticed me, Alya," was all Marinette could answer, unable to pull her eyes away from her partner. His eyes continuous flicked over to her, and he grin when he caught her staring.

Alya was going on about how awesome this was. Marinette mentally waved her away.

 _Yeah, yeah, it's all very exciting. I've been crazy for my partner for a good three wasted years. It's great._

Adrien and Nino walked over to them then. Alya hurriedly grabbed onto Nino and started pulling him away, talking in high, excited tones and glancing back at Marinette, who shook her head, smiling. Adrien cleared his throat, throwing his bag Nino had brought for him over his shoulder. That Chat Noir look was in his eyes again: mischievous, glinting, penetrating. Though, unlike Chat, Marinette spotted a pink blush creeping into his cheeks. This was good. It gave Marinette the edge she needed. This was _Chat_ , and Ladybug always had some type of pull over him…and he _knew_ it.

"Lunch?" he asked after an awkward moment of silence.

Marinette snorted at his 'inquiry'. "Sure," she replied sweetly, batting her eyelashes.

Adrien grinned and shifted his weight before timidly placing a hand on her shoulder and lowering his head to whisper in her ear.

"I mean, uh, _alone_?"

Marinette vibrated in her shoes, but she retained presence of mind enough to grab onto his arm to keep him there. She whispered back her reply.

"Masked or unmasked?"

Marinette let go, warmth spreading through her face as fast as the grin forming on her face. She walked backwards toward the hall where the school had just emptied. A loud laugh escaped her at the confused look on Adrien's face. Then she turned and ran, laughing more when she heard familiar footfalls behind her.

Alya was incredibly disappointed when Ladybug _and_ Chat Noir leapt from the school moments after she and Nino had walked out of the front doors. She was, however, fast enough to record their distance figures as they laughed and chased each other around the rooftops and streets of Paris.

Nino sighed. Another lunch period was going to be wasted, but he _was_ thankful it was just for chasing around superheroes and not some bad dude.

 _To Be Continued!_

(( Tomorrow is the last day of this crazy month! I have my "Did you 'Cat'-ch That?" Tuesday and One-Shot Wednesday pieces almost ready, but I wanted to finished this up. I'm tired, and I really can't stay up until 4:00 in the morning again to write. Heh, heh. Leave me a review! I love, LOVE to hear from you! Give me some suggestions! AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! ))


	20. I'm Yours, Forever

(( Oh my heck! It's the last day! And yeah, I didn't get all of the prompts, but it has been so fun and fulfilling to be able to take part of this! FLUFFY! Let's end this the right way, shall we? (8 ))

Miraculous Fluff Month 2017 – Aug 31

Prompt: I'm yours, Forever

"I-cannot-believe-you- _lied-to-ME!_ "

So, it had been a ruse.

The "gala" was actually the Street Food International Festival.

…And she hadn't really needed to know how to dance.

Maybe just how to pack in some yummy food.

And Adrien _had_ planned a big reveal before dragging her here. And it was going to be _so_ romantic. And it was going to be _sweet_ when Chat Noir and Ladybug "crashed" the party.

And then Marinette had to dance like that around the hallway and give herself and everything away and here they were, on their way to the festival as Chat Noir and Ladybug. Ladybug because that's how she agreed to go. Chat Noir because, when Ladybug found out the truth, he needed to be able to run away. _Fast_.

And now, she was all _over_ him…but definitely not in a good way.

"I-was-up-EVERY-NIGHT-until-THREE-working-on- _THIS-DRESS_!" she yelled again at him. Every word was accentuated with a punch to any and every inch of him she could reach. It hurt like nothing else, but he couldn't stop the laughter from bubbling up.

"OW! HAHA OW! WOULD YOU – HAHA! – _STOP THAT!?_ "

The dress, _was_ stunning. She wore it over her Ladybug get up, the black accentuating the red and black spots perfectly. It was cut close to her figure until just below the hip. There, the skirting flared out, draping in fluttery layers to just below the knees. The fluttering matched the loose fabric draping off of the cap sleeves. Her hair was in two high buns instead of the usual low pigtails, the same type of wispy black fabric playing with the standard red ribbons that always appeared.

All Chat had on, other than his cat suit, was a bright green bow-tie.

The next set of punches were a little harder, and Chat was actually trying now to wriggle free from under her grasp.

"NO!" _PUNCH._ "Not until you give-me-a-GOOD- _REASON_ –"

" _Well, would you have said 'yes'?"_ Chat hissed at her, grapping onto her fists in an offensive instead of just trying to block her hits. She struggled against him while he spoke, but soon settled down a bit, obviously trying to digest his words.

"Well! I, uh, yes…."

"Liar."

Ladybug scowled and renewed her struggling. But Chat was _done_ with the abuse. He allowed it for as long as he did because, well, his lady was _touching_ him, and frankly, he deserved to be punished.

"You don't know that. I-I could've said yes!"

"Hm," Chat said shortly, effortlessly pushing Ladybug off him and standing up. Gingerly he released her hands, his own hands held up defensively. His eyes darted between her still-clenched fists now at her sides and her stern gaze, a silent question passing from him.

 _Are you going to hit me again, or are you done?_

Her stance was answer enough: _I make no promises_.

Chat pressed on regardless. "Let's just roleplay this for a minute." He "coughed" into his own fist and took on a deep, rakish voice. " _Good evening, Milady._ " He ended the sentence with a flourishing bow.

Then he whipped around on his heel and put his hands on his hips before rolling his eyes. He answered "Chat's" inquiry in a squeaky, giggly, and slightly raspy voice: " _Hello, CHAT_."

Ladybug's hands flew up to her mouth in an obvious display to keep herself from laughing.

He continued to switch positions in a showy way to present his two characters.

" _So, Bugaboo, I have a question for you._

 _"No._

 _"But – "_

 _"No._ "

He stood now in the middle of his charade area and put both hands high into the air in triumph.

"The end! Thank you! Thank you!" And more bowing.

Ladybug was doubled over laughing, wiping a tear from her eye.

"You're ridiculous."

Chat sidled up to her and pressed against her side cocking his head absurdly low to look at her, hand wrapped around her still-shaking shoulders.

"No, I'm _miraculous_ ," he retorted, flashing a toothy grin.

"Ha!" Ladybug shot out. " _I'm_ miraculous. You're just a liar pants."

"Liar pants. _Really?_ " Then he wiggled his eyebrows. "Have you been looking?"

Ladybug flushed and Adrien mentally high-fived Chat Noir.

"It's hard _not_ to notice when your pants are on fire."

 _Huh?_

 _Oh._

 _'Liar, Liar, pants on fire'…Ha. Ha. Ha._

Chat sighed deeply, a look of resignation playing across his features.

"It's true," he sighed again. "I _do_ make my pants look _hot_." Ladybug snorted. "But I'm thinking that lately you've _pre-fur-ed_ the leather."

She tried to push away from him now, shaking her head and grunting. Her two hands on his chest, but he wasn't about to let her win this one. He grabbed around her arms and held her there. Finally relenting, she grunted in annoyance.

"In your _dreams!_ " she said hotly.

"In _your_ dreams," he replied smoothly.

"GALL! Do you ever _stop!?_ "

"Not when I'm around you."

Ladybug grinned suddenly and stopped struggling against him. A mischievous glint danced in her eyes and Chat was both enchanted and…well…terrified.

"I can solve _that_ problem," she whispered, hands on his chest again and closing the gap between them.

"Ha!" Chat 'laughed' nervously. "I'd like to know _how_ -mmphmmph!

"….Mmmm…."

She had to reach up on her toes to silence him, but Chat could handle that kind of problem-solving _every_ day. Like, all that time. When she broke the kiss and slid back down to her normal height, Chat could only stare blankly ahead. He cleared his throat, trying to clear his mind along with it.

"Yeah," he said dumbly. "Th-That'll, uh, that could work."

Ladybug ducked out from until his distracted self and pulled out her yo-yo, looking down to the food festival.

"Now come on, Kitty," she spoke low, a teasing tone in her voice. "You owe me a hot dessert."

"PFFFFFT-"

"WHAT – NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"BEIGNETS! CREPES! …."

qpqpqpqpqp

Ladybug and Chat Noir joined in the festivities, to everyone's enjoyment. They tried every food from every truck – free of charge – and ate until they were stuffed to almost more than they could handle (poor Chat with his usual model diet was suffering acutely at all the rich foods…though he looked happier than Ladybug had ever seen him). They ate, and joked, and romped around the events and food places…and looked absolutely _fabulous_ doing it.

Marinette's favorite part, thought, wasn't the hand-holding, or the quick peck on the cheek, or the way Chat always seemed to be touching her somehow – her back, hand, arm.

Her favorite part was watching the black cat superhero of Paris taking selfies with fans, making faces with little kids, and photobombing groups in general. It was when the lights got bright and the sky got dim and the laughter reflected in his eyes in a magical way when he looked at anyone. It was the way he unashamedly praised _her_ and let everyone bask in her presence.

It was when he was so obvious humble when asked to present the final award.

It was the way he blushed when genuinely complimented by a random stranger and sniffled when he thought no one saw.

It was watching the love radiating toward _everyone_ ; and when he looked at _her_ , it was the love _there_ that he had never pushed on her, never spoken of, but that she knew had always been present.

It was the love that she knew was meant just for _her_.

"I love you," she suddenly said, breathlessly.

Ladybug had been signing an autograph for someone, but her eyes had looked up and caught Chat's. It was only for a moment, but the words spilled out before she could stop them. It was nearly subconsciously done, but she wouldn't – couldn't – take it back.

The group around the heroes hushed, except for a few _Oooo_ 's. Phones flew out to record the moment, but Ladybug hardly noticed.

Chat Noir was frozen in place, a kid with cat ears and painted whispers sitting on his shoulders.

Ladybug couldn't stand the silence. It had to be said again. He had to _know_.

"I love you, Chat Noir."

Now there were several audible gasps. But, despite the group crowding around them, Ladybug only saw Chat.

Chat, meanwhile, slowly handed the child back to his parents and slowly walked over to Ladybug, taking her hands in his. Then he wrapped his arms around her. When she reciprocated the tight squeeze he gave her, he pressed his forehead into hers.

"I love _mew_ too."

Ladybug laughed in spite of herself and pulled a hand back toward her just to punch him lightly in the stomach. He responded by burying his head into the side of hers in a very _cat_ -like way before all-out nuzzling her. She couldn't stop the giggles, and she couldn't pull away from it. When he finally settled down, he squeezed her tight and laid his head on her shoulder. She nuzzled her own face into him and felt his breath on her ear as he whispered to her.

"Do you really mean that?"

"Yes," Ladybug responded immediately. "Did you?"

"Ladybug…" he chuckled slightly. "I have been, and always will be, yours forever."

Ladybug burned from her head to her toes. Chat pulled away from her enough to look at her, and she reluctantly followed suit.

And now she could hear the whoops, cheers, and applause from the crowd.

(And a few strangled, desperate cries of "LADYNOIR!" that sounded suspiciously like Alya….)

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" chanted the crowd.

Well, they had to appease the masses, right?

So they kissed, and kissed, and kissed, and kissed….

 _Fin!_

(( Thanks so much for reading. I love you all, really, and I hope you have had a Fan-TAB-ulous Fluff Month for 2017!

Keep it fluffy, and don't get Akumatized! ))

(( FYI, if you put this: "when you're just fluffy, not fat", in the Google search, the first image that pops up is what I always feel like when I say, "I'm going to write something fluffy!" and it definitely never turns out that way…. XD ))

(( Tuesday and Wednesday stuff tomorrow! It's actually ready and I'm ready and we're ready! Yeah...! ))


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